Issue which is pretty badly past its time.
Swenson, Dispatcher • novelette by R. DeWitt Miller
A space delivery company is in financial trouble. They employ a new “dispatcher”, who starts to organize things his own way, eventually of course he solves all the problems. An extremely dull story where people endlessly discuss logistics and shipping stuff and how much better it would be if humans would give birth to eggs. Dull, too long, and not very funny. I, at least, think it was meant to be funny, but I can’t be entirely sure. **
Protection • short story by Robert Sheckley
A Sheckley story I haven’t read. A man gets a helper, an invisible alien, who warns him about possible dangers. At first, that seems nice, but slowly the alien gets overzealous and starts to warn about possible dangers even if they are hundreds of miles away. And being warned about dangers in advance apparently makes new dangers more and more likely - and that is not even all. Not one of his best, but not bad. ***
Point of Departure • novelette by Vaughan Shelton
A research foundation is facing a $300,000 bill and one disappeared researcher. Apparently, some stone tablets belonging to an ancient civilization have been found and they contain wonderful (but totally implausible) inventions, like a sun-powered power source that gives almost unlimited power and, apparently, constant drive. At the start the story was almost ok, but then it worsened until it eventually just fizzled out. **
Garrity's Annuities • short story by David Mason
A space man has a bright idea: he marries a woman at every port, so he doesn’t have to spend his money on hookers. Surely keeping several wives is so much cheaper. However, the first one he marries (who belongs to a race with slight mind-influencing techniques) soon learns about his scheme. She flies on faster transportation to the next port and gets married (again) to the same silly man, who never notices it is the same woman. And then the same happens again. Silly, stupid, and kind of offensive in this day and age. **+
Time to Kill • short story by E. C. Tubb
A man is hired to commit murder in the future, where there is no crime, for a great amount of money. He makes a perfect plan and seems to succeed, but the police arrest him instantly after the crime. It turns out that police can travel in time and the punishment for violent crimes is pretty unique. The ending of the story didn't really make sense at all. A mildly amusing tale. **½
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