American Science Fiction #41 — page 3: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

« oe Lo fe ' ¢ ‘ cai FY ot t ; ; 5 nae : . y 3s . r Psy ee Se Ee ee ee , ae THE WORLD Every member of the U.N. received the note which said: © | | . Give us peace within a month or I shall destroy _ the earth utterly.”? And only two men believed the sender _ to be capable of carrying out his threat—two men, buck- : 2S )e ti ~ vs Lint - oth 4 4 , : : \ on: ‘i ry ¥ at H' eR ; bs Fe Fo Pa n i _. ing red tape, trying to find the terribly sincere atomic _. EXTRACTS, HOSPITAL CASE HISTORY No. 3007: Patient admitted ‘11.45 a.m. in Z coma and severe shock, Pulse weak. Temperature: 95. White cell count -_- Jess than 2,000. Blood draining off into tissues, indicating generalised purpura. Immediate whole blood transfusion given. ; “= DIAGNOSIS: Radiation illness. - Exposure considered lethal. Prob- ably about 1,000 roentgens. down to 500. Response to aureo- - mycin treatment, favourable .. . 10 p.m. Hematocrit reading re- 3 high at 101... . 3.55 p.m. reports show karyorrhexis de- veloping swiftly as more and more cells are ionised by ‘hot’ isotopes jn patient’s body . . ..4.40 p.m. Geiger counter set up at bedside to check progressive radioactivity of the human atomic pile . . . 5.10 - p.m. Guided by hematocrit read- ings, blood transfusions increased, supplemented by albumen... . 5.50 - pm. Patient _ conscious. Suffers - violent spasms “of pain. Morphine + a es ful, moves head weakly... CHAPTER 1 rs 7 head and see the sun going behind the colour-splashed 4 2.30 p.m. White cell count now - barely suffices. He appears thought- oe ITH a great effort I turn my i ov, _ ridges of the Coastal range. It’s the’ + last sunset I shall ever see and the ~ physicist, Chetzisky, before the deadline! end of a day that a madman with an fe eal meant to be your ast. : Every cell inside me seems a glow- ing coal. The geiger counter clicks off a slow, steady staccato. Sudde fi I. find my body arching itself c vulsively in a wracking outbri pain. There is the quick sharpn a needle in my arm and mercifull am numb. OG Armstrong, his giant frame hunch- ed over in the chair, watches me with a suffering look new to those hard, cold eyes of his. A good man anda loyal friend. If he weren’t as stub- born and resolute as a bulldog, you might not be sitting down to your supper to-night. ‘My mind is strangely clear and calm, as if washed by cool, clean winds from distant. space. 1 remem- ber everything vividly, the whole se- quence of events that began a month ago. 1 was chatting, I recall, with some students about the transuranic ele- ments after my lecture on “The Chain Reaction of Uranium” when a lab instructor tapped me on the shoulder. “There’s an army colonel waiting upstairs in your office, Doctor Bailey.” 3 Il was frowning when I left. A re- serve officer who served in Military” Intelligence on the Manhattan Pro- ject, I sensed something ominous in the visit. The Korean situation al-- ‘ready had me in an uneasy mood, ConnmiclooOokssconn