The Lady from Aldebaran

Evelyn E. Smith

• Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781649741660
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Science Fiction
• Index: Literature

Many of the formerly underprivileged terrestrials apparently felt that one vote was not quite enough for them. Now that the Elections are over, to our individual relief or otherwise, we can perhaps appreciate, with more objectivity, the problems that an Elections official will have to face in the future. There might not only be a question of whom to vote for—there could be interesting ramifications to the added problem of how to vote for some of the new citizens. Evelyn E. Smith is best known as the author of the Miss Melville mysteries. From 1952 to 1969 she wrote dozens of science fiction and fantasy short stories that appeared in magazines such as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy, Super Science Fiction, and Fantastic Universe. Her stories were witty, well written, often humorous, and always unforgettable.

Many of the formerly underprivileged terrestrials apparently felt that one vote was not quite enough for them. Now that the Elections are over, to our individual relief or otherwise, we can perhaps appreciate, with more objectivity, the problems that an Elections official will have to face in the future. There might not only be a question of whom to vote for—there could be interesting ramifications to the added problem of how to vote for some of the new citizens.

“Look here!” Mr. Cassidy exclaimed in exasperation. He had had a long and trying morning. “Horses can’t vote!”

The mare tossed her head and dropped a paper from her teeth to the table before him. It was a diploma certifying that she had been graduated with honors from the Peabody Equestrian Academy.

Before Mr. Cassidy could question the value of this document, there was a crash as she nearly buried him under the weight of dozens of wooden alphabet blocks, which she released from a canvas bag. By the time he had dug his way out, she had already arranged the following message on the table with her hoof: “Cogito, ergo sum. And I am literate; therefore I may vote.”

"She’s right, Pat,” Mr. O’Toole, the other Universalist registration officer, pointed out. “It’s the new law. Any life form that’s literate and a citizen can register for the elections!”

“Seems quite in order,” Mr. Vandernoot, the Federationalist registrar murmured, taking in the large illuminated “Vote for Otto Is my Motto” button on her rose pink blanket.

“But can she prove she’s a responsible citizen?” Mr. Cassidy persisted.

The mare smugly offered a Terran birth certificate plus a card attesting to the fact that she was a full-time employee of Barnum and Bailey’s Intergalactic Circus, and a union member in good standing.

“Okay.” Mr. Cassidy gave up and handed her a registration form. “Just go into that booth there and put a check next to the party you belong to. Then drop the paper in the box.”

The horse whinnied contemptuously and vanished behind the faded green curtain with a flirt of her tail.

Mr. Cassidy breathed a sigh of relief at the right of the next registrant, a handsome two-headed young humanoid of Denebian extraction. Melvin Montgomery Ush seemed to offer no problem; he answered every question clearly and succinctly in pleasant tenor and baritone voices. The difficulty came only whe...