Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

ing. It won’t pay him much and hell have to work long hours in all kinds of

uncomfortable and dangerous situations. ‘Death not unlikely,’ it says here,

‘but survivors may become famous.’Well, well. The address is room

a-ten-prime, Research Tower, Central City. Here’s a big chance, fellows-be

the first man in history to circumnavigate the sun on skis, or somethingl

And now, lees get down to serious business. Continental Atomics informs your

communicator that it urgently needs five young women, in the twenty-toforty

age bracket, to administer a new power-conversion project. Although previous

experience is preferred, the firm-“

Convulsively, Jorn switched the set off. That was that.

“But why’d you bother to write the address down?” Jurg said immediately.

Jorn was startled; somehow, he had assumed that the other man had fallen

asleep with his eyes open. “It’s all Max anyhow, you ought to know that.”

I don’t know. I do it by habit. And a good thing this time she was so busy

being funny, she forgot to repeat it.”

“Klax,” Jurg said firmly, and ran his index finger under his nose. “If that

job’s a good thing. I’m a town clock with sixteen chimes. The witch was

right-it’s a recruiting poster for one of those space medicine

slaughterhouses. They’ll squirt you off to an orbit a thousand miles out

from nothing at all, record your blood pressure and a little muffled

cussing by radioand then, when they somehow don’t manage to bring you back,

they’ll shed a tear and scratch your name onto some imperishable back fence