Astounding British Edition, Vol. 6, No. 8 — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

=== 58 - It was three years before the A21 was ready. She looked very small compared with her giant’ predecessors, and it was hard to believe that she was the nearest thing to a true patie that man had yet built. This time the takeoff was from sea level, and the Atlas Mountains, which had witnessed the start of our earlier shots, were now merely the distant background to the scene. _ We walked with David out to the launch- ing site, talking in the inconsequential way one does on such occasions. He was as con- fident as ever, and we, too, had begun to share his belief in his own destiny. I remem- . ber asking him if he’d told Mavis about his dream, for I’'d often thought that hers was the hardest part of all. She could do with some of his assurance during the long hours of waiting. He hesitated for a moment before he answered. “No,” he said, “I’ve not told her. She’s very—practical—you know. Besides, young Dave keeps her from worrying about me.” “He’s nearly fifteen now, isn’t he?” I asked. “Is he going to follow in his father’s footsteps?” - “No fear,” said David firmly. “He’s not old enough to know his own mind yet, but I hope he'll take up architecture, so that there'll be someone to carry on the family business now that I’ve let them down so badly.” We paused for a moment in the air lock while the cameras watched us with hungry eyes. Then Jimmy said softly, so that no one could overhear: “It won’t be long now, David, before we build that three-man ship of yours.” And I knew that he was only half joking. We watched through tinted glasses as the A21 tore up into the sky, trailing behind her the terrible beauty of the atomic blast. Within a minute the machine was lost from sight and we raced to the plotting room so that we could still follow her on the way to space. When we got there the signal was just fading from the radar screens, and the detonation reached us a little later. It was a very small explosion, for if the machine - - ae ee —— «? , a Pe Ae a ee ee ee aul pa Pe a i ot Lae pe, ; — es Oe ee 2 — —. - Pattee ee Ne OE ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION had been much higher there would have been no sound at all. And that was the end of David and his dreams. The next I recall of that period is flying down the Conway Valley in Jimmy’s ’copter, with Snowdon gleaming far away on our right. We had never been to David’s home before and we were not looking forward to ue visit. But it was the least that we could 0. As the mountains drifted beneath us we talked about the suddenly darkened future and wondered what the next step would be. Apart from the shock of personal loss, we were beginning to realize how much of David’s confidence we had come to share ourselves. That confidence, and much else, had been utterly destroyed. We wondered what Mavis would do, and discussed the boy’s future, I had not seen him for several years, and Jimmy had never met him at all. Mavis was quite calm and collected, though she seemed much older than when I had last met her. For a while we talked about business matters and the disposal of David’s estate. I'd never been an executor before, but tried to pretend that I knew all about it. We had started to discuss the boy when we heard the front door open and he came into the house. Mavis calied-to him and his footsteps came slowly along the passage. We could tell that he didn’t want to meet us, and his eyes were still red when he entered the room, - I had forgotten how much like his father he was, and [ heard a little gasp from Jimmy. “Hello, David,” I said. “I expect you remember me. This is Jimmy Langford.” David never looked at me. He stood quite still, staring at Jimmy with that puzzled ex- pression of a man who has seen someone before but can’t remember where. And in that moment I knew, with a cer- tainty beyond all proof and all reason, that young David was never going to be an architect. Ye Uy, a S pe Za GoOmMmiGcvook (S@)