Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition

# Astounding Science Fiction, February 1954 (British edition)

This issue features five science fiction stories. The lead novelette, "What Thin Partitions" by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides, opens with a personnel director at Computer Research, Inc., investigating complaints about a worker's child in the plant nursery—a girl named Jennie whose mother Annie attributes destructive incidents to behavioral issues, though unexplained fires occur around the child. Lewis Padgett's novelette "Humpty Dumpty" concludes the fiction offerings alongside shorter works: "Taal" by Algis Budrys, "The Garden in the Forest" by Robert F. Young, and "Gimmick" by Katherine MacLean. The issue includes a technical article on atomic weapons destruction by Lt. Theodore S. Simpson (USAF) and "Venus of Troy" by Daniel Whitton. Readers' departments feature editorial content, letters, and a reference library section by P. Schuyler Miller.