The Project Gutenberg EBook of Turning Point, by Alfred Coppel

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Title: Turning Point

Author: Alfred Coppel

Illustrator: Philip Parsons

Release Date: April 23, 2010 [EBook #32104]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction November
1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

TURNING POINT

By Alfred Coppel

Illustrated by Philip Parsons

_The man is rare who will give his life for what is merely
the lesser of two evils. Merrick's decision was even
tougher: to save human beings at the expense of humanity, or
vice versa?_

* * * * *

_This, then, was the Creche, Anno Domini 2500. A great, mile-square
blind cube topping a ragged mountain; bare escarpments falling away to
a turbulent sea. For five centuries the Creche had stood so, and the
Androids had come forth in an unending stream to labor for Man, the
Master...._

--_Quintus Bland, The Romance of Genus Homo._

Director Han Merrick paced the floor nervously. His thin, almost
ascetic face was pale and drawn.

"We can't allow it, Virginia," he said, "Prying of this sort can only
precipitate a pogrom or worse. Erikson is a bigot of the worst kind.
The danger--" He broke off helplessly.

His wife shook her head slowly. "It cannot be prevented, Han. Someone
was bound to start asking questions sooner or later. History should
have taught us that. And five hundred years of secrecy was more than
anyone had a right to expect. Nothing lasts forever."

_The trouble is_, Merrick told himself, _simply that I am the wrong
man for this job. I should never have taken it. There's a wrongness in
what we are doing here that colors my every reaction and makes me
incapab