American Science Fiction #41 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

eit ay) iy A te ¢ ‘ : ea et ~ ss smoke and flame; ae than any ‘since’ September, when the ‘Nazis invaded Poland. They were pushing aggressively in both Europe and Asia, pushing with an arrogance that suggested they felt they could win in a walk if the free nations of the world offered large- scale military defiance. Rumours of a terrible’ secret weapon were being bruited about—not only in hush-hush military. circles but in the public prints as well. One picture magazine of national circulation had actually pub- - lished an article stating that They had ynastered pushbutton warfare. The General, and the Combined Chiefs 1.ade a hurried and secret trip to Aberdeen the day after his return. There, on the proving ground, they _ watched a big transport-plane land on a makeshift airstrip. They saw a small group of soldiers unload from the plane an odd-looking tractor-mounted weapon that resembled an immense -stove-pipe with certain refinements. They saw a lean sausage of a rocket rolled into a coor near the base of the tube, watched a trifle nervously _ while it was elevated almost vertically An order was barked, a button was pushed—and the rocket rose rapidly from the tube with a dullish report, ‘rose to a height of perhaps a hun- dred yards. Then, suddenly, its tail blossomed it rose with a new lease on life, to disappear it to the heavens, leaving a trail of smoke. be- hind it. Pointing to a_ prefabricated building that stood alone, a mile away, Se - the General said, “Watch that target, ee ~ gentlemen,” and lifted his field glasses to his eyes. A minute later—fifty-eight seconds was the exact timic—the structure was Z ee, explosion. The General sighed and - qweathered full admiral. said quietly, “That was TNT. We have a stockpile of atomic weapons ready.” | : exclaimed a “But the accuracy!” “With _ the ’ wind andthe earth’: rotation to con- Bere tee sid o we He ‘hesitated, then said, “Oh, a guided missile.” - *) a bo ; c fe 7 * mt a, ae fi i The General nodded, and said, ““We | can put batteries of these new missile- -completely-mobile — and ‘Seal atomic heads, anywhere in the ae nchers, “FINAL “FICURE- 1939— © 33: world within 24 hours — by plane. They ‘have a' reasonably effective. range of small] targets of just over’ two hundred miles—with air-guidance, of course, over target. Gentlemen, I think They are in for a surprise.” They got it two days later—in an- other special test of the new weapon. The General didn’t even bother to watch it. His attention was focussed upon a stocky biond man who wore the gaudy shoulder-boards of a lieu- tenant colonel, and was present as as- sistant military-attache and qualified Observer. His face remained tmpas- sive, save for a slight twitch of the lips, when the target was obliterated. _ Which was enough to satisfy the General. ; ENIED a sure-thing victory They were forced to call off Their war —with violent internal results. It be- came quickly evident that They were going to be busy for a long time keep- ing order within their own boundaries. The international situation became easier and happier than at any time. since Locarno. The General, who was due shortly to receive his fourth star, played an. active role in the military portion of peacemaking. He had little time. even to think of Angus MacReedy and little Toby and the miracle-workroom on Long Island.. When he did think of them it was with an inner »warmi} that was almost devout, with a re- solve to see that the model-maker re- ceived a satisfactory reward. Then one morning, while skimming © through a stack of reports, a phrase caught his eye. St read— . « . and in accord with cur- rent fiscal retrenchment-policies, all personnel on special duty were called im for terminal assigne — ments. These included The report was from Second ‘Dis- trict H.Q. at Governor’s Island. With © a sinking sensation he scanned the list. There it was—special sentry-detail to guard house of Captain Angus Mac- Reedy (ret.). He picked up a tele- phone and called Governor's Island © direct. Yes, the detail had been withdrawn more ‘than 2 week earlier . . . No, "comicbooks: Com. * ae > - =