Ultima Thule
by
Dallas McCord Reynolds
Illustrated by John Schoenherr.
Analog Science Fact & Fiction
March 1961
[Transcriber's Note: This text was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction March1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyrighton this publication was renewed.]
[pg 009]
At least he'd got farenough to wind up witha personal interview.It's one thing doing upan application and seeingit go onto an endless tape and befed into the maw of a machine andthen to receive, in a matter of moments,a neatly printed rejection. It'sanother thing to receive an appointmentto be interviewed by a placementofficer in the Commissariat ofInterplanetary Affairs, Departmentof Personnel. Ronny Bronston wasunder no illusions. Nine out of tenmen of his age annually made thesame application. Almost all wereannually rejected. Statistically speakingpractically nobody ever got aninterplanetary position. But he'dmade step one along the path of alifetime ambition.
He stood at easy attention immediatelyinside the door. At the desk atthe far side of the room the placementofficer was going through asheaf of papers. He looked up andsaid, “Ronald Bronston? Sit down.You'd like an interplanetary assignment,eh? So would I.”
Ronny took the chair. For a momenthe tried to appear alert, earnest,ambitious but not too ambitious,fearless, devoted to the cause, and indispensable.For a moment. Then hegave it up and looked like RonnyBronston.
The other looked up and took himin. The personnel official saw a manof averages. In the late twenties. Averageheight, weight and breadth.Pleasant of face in an average sort ofway, but not handsome. Less thansharp in dress, hair inclined to be onthe undisciplined side. Brown ofhair, dark of eye.