AVOIDANCE SITUATION
BY JAMES MC CONNELL
What can a man do when he alone
must decide the fate of Earth and all
its people—and when the choices
offered him are slavery and death....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1956.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Captain Allen Hawkins stood quietly in the observation room of the Sunward looking out at subspace. He was a medium-sized man with a trim squareness to him that suggested he had been in the military most of his life. He had a good deal of gold on his sleeve and a good deal of silver in his hair, and he had discovered in his many years in the Space Navy that the two usually went hand in hand. In the background he could hear the noise and ordered confusion of the ship's bridge. But at the moment he paid it little attention, concentrating instead on the observation window.
It was not the first time that he had stood thus, gazing at whatever lay beyond the shell of the ship. Almost every time he had put the Sunward through the dark shadow of subspace, he had deserted the bridge for at least a few moments to come and stare out the window.
"God," he said out loud, repressing a shiver that wanted to crawl down his spine.
"Perhaps 'God forsaken' would be a better description," came a voice from behind him.