Some people will go to great lengths to avoid tne number 13. Hotel owners do not usually assign the number 13 to a room, preferring to label it 12A or 14instead. The French never issue the house address13, while in Italy the number 13 is omitted from the national lottery. Airlines have no thirteenth row on their planes, and office and apartment buildings rarely have a thirteenth floor.
From ancient civilizations to modern societies, the belief in the magic of numbers has persisted in spite of the advances in science and technology. There is mothing quite as stubborn as superstition. Even today in the twenty-first century, people still believe in bad luck and omens. In the future, people may work in space stations or travel the universe in starships, but there probably won’t be a “starbase 13” or a rocket loftoff on Friday the thirteenth. A seventh voyage will be a good one, and the third time around will still be lucky.