Manuscript received at SMLA Oct 18, 1954               

(1955 APR): IF {ill.by Kelly Freas}
(1957): THE FIRST WORLD OF IF {ed. Quinn and Wulf}, Quinn, pb, $0.50 -- Magazine format
(1969): THE PRESERVING MACHINE AND OTHER STORIES, Ace, pb 67800

(1976): TOMORROW INC. {ed.:Greenburg & Olander} Taplinger, hb,

(1987): THE DAYS OF PERKY PAT/THE MINORITY REPORT

(1988): THE GREAT SF STORIES 17 {ED.:Asimov & Greenberg} DAW, pb,

SRG 43

    In "Captive Market" an old woman gifted with precognition has previewed the futures to find one in which survivors on the radioactive earth need supplies for their escape to a safe planet. As the proprietor of a small-town country store, she has the business acuity to recognize this windfall; her canniness outweighs any sympathy she may  have for their plight. Making trip after trip into their time continuum with the supplies for which they pay in worhtless-to-them pre-war money, she selfishly refuses to tell them a vital fact she had also previewed -- they will continue to fail to escape.