Argosy: The Short Story Magazine — page 78: what you’re looking at

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

aes | DAVID BEATY ne Se eae ae C. - “ Bit on the windscreen, too,” Kelston said. He i on the a _ Windscreen anti-icers and watched the alcohol seep over the glass, 7 _ mixing in with the sleet. x He asked Shaughnessy, ‘‘ How much on your wing?” _ “ About an inch... but it’s still building up.” Kelston looked down at the temperature gauge for the outside air. It was very high for the altitude at this time of year—minus _ fourteen degrees. Hawkins, the Engineer, had heard the magic : word ice, and he struggled out of his seat to look for himself. When Ss stuff started to form on an aircraft, something had to be done. ast. “Going to go up, Skipper?” the Engineer asked. “I reckon 7 the old tub’ll reach 23,000. At this weight.” He had looked in the maintenance log-book and found EZ was just recently offa | Check Four, a thorough overhaul done every 1,200 hours’ flying. ~~ “No, down. Mr. Draper, get me a clearance from Control | to descend to 11,000 feet.’”? Then he noticed that the Radio _ Officer was busy sending, and he waited, while Hawkins and _ Shaughnessy impatiently watched the cloud paint another layer of ice on the wing. As Easy Zebra started to take on this extra frozen cargo, her weight increased. The jagged edges of the formation were spoiling i the flying properties of her wings. ‘The needle of the airspeed : indicator now fluttered around 150 knots. wr Lost nearly 10 knots already,” Hawkins muttered to the First * (Officer. “3 Kelston heard him and smiled. “ Still another 50 knots to go before we actually stall, Mr. Hawkins,” he said. ‘‘ Have you got | those fuel figures yet? ”’ Pe : *“T’ve nearly finished them, Skipper.”’ a Just then Draper’s hand suddenly started to push against BS _ Hawkins’s substantial body, which was blocking the small space between the two pilots. The Engineer edged to one side, and looked down at the Radio Officer. i. a ‘“What’s the matter . . . what’s the rush? ” he asked, as he sat _ down again at his panel. ; Be ““ Message,’’ Draper shouted. ‘‘ Urgent. The tugs can’t find the ship. Control are asking, have we the fuel to help?” It was not, in Draper’s opinion, a reasonable request. Bi a? “Tell ’em yes.’’ Kelston’s words snapped back at him so sud- _ denly, Draper bounced in his seat again. Not this time from the > storm. ‘“‘ Ask Control to clear all levels below us.”’ ** No aircraft up, Skipper. Air-Sea Rescue at Lagens is out for > weather. Gale-force cross wind.” a *'Tell them . . . we'll be glad to help.” a ;. Hawkins turned round with the fuel figures. ‘‘ Only 8,000 pounds of fuel left, Skipper,” he said dubiously. ‘“‘ And we’re 3 still in hot air.” 2 3 ~~ ** Static’s terrible even at this height,’’ Draper put in. “‘ Wouldn’t _ be surprised if we couldn’t hear a damn thing near the deck.” | a aa . comicbooks: com