Astounding Science Fiction, October 1950 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

REGULATIONS PROVIDE 27 ances of foreign creatures, which were re- pulsive by Earth standards, but these two specimens were among the most unbeautiful he had ever seen. | He stepped up to the instrument and spoke to them, the machine automatically making a semantic transfer of his language meanings into theirs. “J am Joe Williams,” he said. “You have heard of me, of course, since you have come here for repairs.” “Your name is well known throughout this and many other galaxies,” said one of them. He couldn’t tell which. The voice that spoke was not theirs, of course, but only the electromechanical reproducer of the instrument. “We felt sure that you could repair our ship,” continued the Neranian. “We have far to go, and one of us is sick. We cannot make use of our super-cee drive. We have been disappointed by the report of your technicians that they can find nothing wrong with the mechanism.” “Our tests show the super-cee to be operating,” said Joe. “We thought perhaps it would be best to take the ship out for a trial run. You might be able to demon- strate the trouble better that way, however, we could possibly save time if you would allow a cerebral analogue check.” “This means mind reading—?”™ “Well... not exactly—” “I fear we cannot submit. We do. not understand your meaning. The test is un- familiar to us. You will, naturally excuse our suspicions.” “Of course. But the test is based on a simple premise. In every race it has heen found that the artifacts of the culture have analogous structures in the brain cells of the species. Very frequently, when we find a complex piece of equipment which we can- not analyze, we can discover its means of operation by means of analogues derived trom the fundamental structure of the brain of the creating species.” The two Neranians- were silent, as if con- ferring with each other for a moment. Then » the voice came again. “We cannot permit it. We would prefer that you make a check flight.” Joe shrugged inside his suit. “As you wish.”’ _ The cerebropath was moved inside the ship. Joe and Litchfield went aboard with two young technicians named Barnes and Hamilton. In the murky atmosphere of the ship, Jue was sure his suit was leaking. He would have sworn he could smell the foul stuff the Neranians lived in. Must be getting old, he thought. He re- membered when he was a kid and his father had taken him through the first ships from out of the distant galaxies. He remembered the kind, ugly faces of those first visitors he’d met. But it was just as well that that kind of thrill didn’t last forever, he sup- posed. Nobody could live for all his life on the high emotional plane he enjoyed when he was a kid. The ship glided out of the open doors of the hangar under the guidance of the ground crew. It was towed far out beyond the shops to the desert testing-stand field. Joe watched the Neranians’ handling of the ship with a critical eye. “I thought you people always. used your mensa,’ he said abruptly. The two at the control panel seemed to stiffen, he thought afterwards. They hesi- tated, then one spoke. “We are trying to get away from them. It is cumbersome to depend on them. We have been. trying a surgical technique to enable us to do with- out them.” Joe grunted. It didn’t look as if they had been very successful. They were clumsy in their manipulation of the controls. “Head out at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic,” he ordered. To his com- ~ panions, he said, “You three go down and watch the engines. When the sub-cees get up to limit, PIl come back there and try to throw in the manuals on the super-cee.” The three men ducked awkwardly through the low corridors. The ship was designed with paragravity controls for horizontal walking instead of vertical climbing. Fortunately, the Neranians were no more than a foot shorter than the Earthmen. Occasionally, there were ships in which it was impossible for a man to get about through the small openings that fitted the builders. As the ship sped swiftly upward, Joe watched the indicators. As far as he could see, everything was functioning well. “All right,” he said to the Neranians. “Til go back and try the super-cee from the engine room. If it works all right, you cut it out after a couple of minutes, and we'll work on it from up here. You have to cut it off, remember. Once it’s on, we can’t get into it from down there because of the field buildup.” The creatures gave the Neranian equiva- lent of a nod. Joe ducked and clumped his EComichbooksnco