Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] What's more important—Man's conquest of space, or one spaceman's life? I timepieces made generations past in the Alpine area of Eur-Asia. Its from the government who spoke, but he was one of those who were pseudo-elected and didn't know much about the field of space travel nor the significance of Seymour Pond's retirement. Si didn't bother to remember his name. He only wondered vaguely why the cloddy had turned In common with recipients of gold watches of a score of generations before him, Si Pond would have preferred something a bit more tangible The fact of the matter was, Si knew that his retiring had set them through decently. Well, possibly he didn't, given their standards. But Space Pilot Seymour Pond didn't have their standards. He'd had plenty of time to think it over. It was better to retire on a limited crediting, on a confoundedly limited crediting, than to take the two or three more trips in hopes of attaining a higher standard. He'd had plenty of time to figure it out, there alone in space on the Moon run, there on the Venus or Mars runs. There on the long, long haul to the Jupiter satellites, fearfully checking the symptoms of space cafard, the madness compounded of claustrophobia, monotony, boredom and free fall. Plenty of time. Time to decide that a one having his eyes touched prohibited either surgery to remould his eyeballs and cure his myopia, or contact lenses. the Ultrawelfare State. Slumped in an autochair in the escape room of his Floridian home, Lofting Gubelin scowled at his friend. He said, acidly, "Any more the cloddy's patriotism, sentiment and desire for public acclaim have miserably failed." delving into space." Gubelin snapped his fingers. "Like that, either of us would give our lives to prevent man from completely abandoning the road to his destiny." foresee that eventually our whole program would face ending due to adventure, willing to react to the stimulus of danger in the manner our present generation in finding it far more pleasant to follow one's way of life in the comfort of one's home than to be confronted with the unpleasantness of facing nature's dangers in more adventurous pastimes." society that allows him an income sufficient to secure the food, clothing, shelter, medical care and education to sustain a low level dossier revealed him a possible candidate for space pilot, and it was you yourself who talked him into taking the training ... pointing out the more pragmatic advantages such as complete retirement after but six free from toil for the balance of his life. Why should he listen to our pleas for a few more trips?" "But has he no spirit of adventure? Has he no feeling for...." the conversation of one who debated with the easy-seeming, quiet spoken always paid lip service to adventure, hardships and excitement, but in leave this blistering jabber about Pond's motivation and get to the point. The man is the only trained space pilot in the world. It will take months, possibly more than a year, to bring another novitiate pilot to the point where he can safely be trusted to take our next explorer craft out. Appropriations for our expeditions have been increasingly hard to come by—even though in our spark the race that a new dream to push man out to the stars will take to the point that we haven't a single pilot, then it might well be that the Economic Planning Board, and especially those cloddies on Appropriations, will terminate the whole Department of Space Exploration." "So...." Girard-Perregaux said gently. face took on an expression of Machiavellianism. "And do not the ends of the sailor and his way of life?" for years at a stretch before returning to home port—he would talk of his retirement and his dream. And then? Then in port, it would be The other chuckled again. "It is simply a matter of finding more modern methods, my dear chap." excuse would do. Back when he had finished basic education at the age When he had been informed that his physical and mental qualifications were such that he was eligible for the most dangerous occupation in the Ultrawelfare State and had been pressured into taking training for space pilot, he had celebrated once again. Twenty-two others had taken the training with him, and only he and Rod Cameroon had passed a bust, a bat, a wing-ding, a night on the town. A commemoration of dangers met and passed. in adapting to the automation of the second industrial revolution. working hours in the day, and the number of working days in the week. of them ever really becoming efficient. The only fair thing was to let the technologically unemployed remain unemployed, with their Inalienable Basic stock as the equivalent of reasonable number of hours a day, a reasonable number of weeks a year and a reasonable number of years in a life time. When new employees were needed, a draft lottery was held. Thus, Si was vaguely aware, it had always been down through the centuries since the Phoenecian sailor, back from his year-long trip to must leave his home for distant lands, returning only periodically and usually with the salary of lengthy, weary periods of time to be spent hurriedly in an attempt to achieve the pleasure and happiness so long titles. screen and said, "Balance check, please." destination, he dialed the vehicle's teevee-phone for information on The car hesitated for a moment, that brief hesitation before the A voice said gently, "If the quarters are satisfactory, please present However, he stifled his first instinct to wonder about what this was his way to the bar. every Si, disconcerted by the sudden reversal, said, "Yeah ... sure." "Good Heavens, you're a spaceman?" "Sure." He pointed at the lapel pin. "You can't wear one unless you been on at least a Moon run." if they say Seymour." him in the Space Exploration department, he was hot for it." " ?" Si was expansive. "Why, sure. In the Space Department we don't have as though avoiding his face. "I ... I suppose it was that speech your space-pilot uniform, the veteran of six exploration runs to the planets...." "Well," Si said modestly, "two of my runs were only to the Moon." "... and he said all those things about man's conquest of space. And the dream of the stars which man has held so long. And then the fact it'd take maybe a year before you could even send him on a Moon hop. So old man Gubelin, and Girard-Perregaux too, they're both trying to pressure me into more trips. Otherwise they got a Space Exploration Department, with all the expense and all, but nobody to pilot their ships. It's kind of funny, in a way. You know what one of those know so much about it? You don't meet many people who are interested in space any more. In fact, most people are almost contemptuous, like. Think it's kind of a big boondoggle deal to help use up a lot of materials and all and keep the economy going." Natalie said earnestly, "Why, I've been a space fan all my life. I've never much interested in it. And I got a darn sight less interested after my first run and I found out what space cafard was." She frowned. "I don't believe I know much about that." ever talked, Si could be nonchalant about the subject. "Old Gubelin keeps that angle mostly hushed up and out of the magazine and newspaper articles. Says there's enough adverse publicity about space exploration already. But at this stage of the game when the whole ship's crammed tight with this automatic scientific apparatus and all, there's aboard. The Doc says later on when ships are bigger and there's a whole

<question>:
Based on indicators in the passage, what can be inferred as the time setting of the story?

<options>:
A The present, based on the character use of credit cards.
B The past, based on the dialogue used by characters.
C The future, based on the advanced technology
D The present, due to the government restrictions on space exploration.

<answer>:

C