Astounding British Edition, Volume 8, No. 11 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

14 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION out the pirouetting forms of the two officers who were fighting in the center of the hall. This was his chance. If he could slip down the darkened side of the hall before the moon lighted up the hall again, he might be able to slip out of the hall unob- served, He pushed against the closed hatch through which he entered. It refused to open. A feeling of trapped panic started to roll over him but he fought it back. “There must be some way to open this thing from the inside,” he thought. As his fingers wandered over the dark interior of the suit looking for a release lever, they encountered a bank of keys set just below his midriff. A quiet hum filled the armor and suddenly a feeling of weight- lessnéss came over him. He stiffened in fright. As he did so, one of his steel shot feet pushed lightly backwards against the floor. That was enough. Slowly, like a child’s balloon caught in a light draft, he drifted toward the center of the hall. He struggled violently but since he was now several inches above the floor and rising slowly it did him no good. The fight was progressing splendidly. Both men were master axemen and in spite of being slightly drunk wefe putting on a brilliant exhibition. Each was bleeding from a dozen minor slashes but neither had been seriously axed as yet. Their flashing strokes . and counters were masterful, so masterful that Kurt slowly forgot his increasingly awkward situation as he became more and more absorbed in the fight before him. The blond captain was slightly the better axeman but the major compensated for it by occa- sionally whistling in cuts that to Kurt's experienced eye seemed perilously close to fouls. He grew steadily more partisan in his feelings until one particularly unscrupulous attempt broke down his restraint altogether. “Pull down your guard!” he screamed to the captain. “He’s trying to cut you below the belt!” His voice reverbrated within the battle suit and boomed out with strange metallic overtones. Both men whirled in the direction of the sound. They could see nothing for a moment and then the major caught sight of the strange menacing figure looming above him in the murky darkness. Dropping his axe he dashed frantically toward the exit shrieking: “It’s the Inspec- tor General!” The captain’s reflexes were a second slower. Before he could take off Kurt poked his head down, “It’s only me, Dixon! Get me out of here, will you?” The captain stared up at him goggle eyed. “What kind of a contraption is that?” | he demanded. “And what are you doing. in it?” Kurt by now was floating a good ten feet off the floor. He had visions of spend- ing the night on the ceiling and he wasn’t happy about it. “Get me down now,” he pleaded. “We can talk after I get out of this thing.” The captain gave a leap upwards and tried to grab Kurt’s ankles. His jump was short and his outstretched fingers gave the weightless armor a slight shove that sent it bobbing up another three feet. He cocked his head back and called up to Kurt. “Can’t reach you now. We'll have to try something else. How did you get into that thing in the first place?” “The middle section is hinged,’ said Kurt. “When I pulled it shut it clicked.” “Well, unclick it!” “TI tried that. That's why I’m up here now.” “Try again,” “If you can open the hatch, you can drop down and I'll catch you.” “Here I come!” said Kurt, his fingers selecting a stud at random. He pushed. There was a terrible blast of flame from the shoulder jets and he screamed skywards on a pillar of fire. A microsecond later he reached the skylight. Something had to give. It did! At fifteen thousand feet the air pressure dropped to the point where the automatics took over and the face plate clicked shut. Kurt didn’t notice that. He was out like a light. At thirty thousand feet the heaters cut in. Forty seconds later he was in free space. Things could have been worse though, he still had air for two hours— CHAPTER X, FLIGHT OFFICER OZAKI was taking a cat nap. when the alarm on the radiation detec- tor went off. Dashing the sleep out of his eyes, he slipped rapidly into the control seat and cut off the gong. His fingers danced over the controls in a blur of movement. Swiftly the vision screen shifted until the little green dot that indicated a source of radiant energy was firmly centered. Next he switched on the pulse analyzer and watched carefully as it broke down the in- coming signal into components and sent GOmMmIicbooksaco said the man on the floor. = aoe <s a