The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ultima Thule by Dallas McCord Reynolds

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Title: Ultima Thule

Author: Dallas McCord Reynolds

Release Date: October 25, 2009 [Ebook #30334]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ULTIMA THULE***

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 March 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

[Illustration.]

At least he'd got far enough to wind up with a personal interview. It's
one thing doing up an application and seeing it go onto an endless tape
and be fed into the maw of a machine and then to receive, in a matter of
moments, a neatly printed rejection. It's another thing to receive an
appointment to be interviewed by a placement officer in the Commissariat
of Interplanetary Affairs, Department of Personnel. Ronny Bronston was
under no illusions. Nine out of ten men of his age annually made the same
application. Almost all were annually rejected. Statistically speaking
practically nobody ever got an interplanetary position. But he'd made step
one along the path of a lifetime ambition.

He stood at easy attention immediately inside the door. At the desk at the
far side of the room the placement officer was going through a sheaf of
papers. He looked up and said, "Ronald Bronston? Sit down. You'd like an
interplanetary assignment, eh? So would I."

Ronny took the chair. For a moment he tried to appear alert, earnest,
ambitious but not _too_ ambitious, fearless, devoted to the cause, and
indispensable. For a moment. Then he gave it up and looked like Ronny
Bronston.

The other looked up and took him in. The personnel official saw a man of
averages. In the late twenties. Average height, weight and breadth.
Pleasa