Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 99: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION the store clerk you wanted to buy some stamps ?’’ he asked out the window. *“Yes,”’ I answered. “And, postal clerk, how does it feel to be a government man?” “Why you—you-——” he blurted angrily. Then he be- gan to chuckle. ““You got me there, son, fair and square. First time I ever realised I was a government man. Maybe they're not all Earth lice after all.” “Depends on which window you're looking out of, doesn’t it?’ I grinned back at him. The. air is getting foul and thin in here. I can hear a faint, high whine, almost beyond hearing range, where the air is escaping through a tiny hole into space. There is a good chance our bodies may never be found. If we crash near lichen, the moisture of our bodies will cause us to be consumed within minutes. I realise I am writing this to fill in the time, rather than to leave a record. Somehow I seem to have been filling in the time all these years, waiting for life to begin, for something real and 98 vital to happen. Now I fill in the time waiting for death. When spaceliner life rafts fail to pass inspection for deep space, they are sent to such places as Marsport and sold into suburban commuter service. They serve the poorer sections, of course. And if the ship has a little air leak, a spotty firing mechanism, a burnt rocket chamber, there is probably only discomfort to the passengers. There seldom is real disaster. And when there is, the surviving families can always write a protest to the govern- ment. They sometimes receive an answer, too—form Xa758693—telling them there is a committee studying the problem. This letter has served satisfactorily for the last twenty years or more. There may even be such a com- mittee—political favourites have to be hired somewhere. When the ships become even more defective and main- tenance begins to eat up the profits, they are shifted farther back into the smaller towns and feeder lines. Finally, they comichbooks.com § ’