Astounding British Edition, Volume 8, No. 11 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

18 ~ ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION familiar. Suddenly a picture of it popped into his mind. Page 318 in the “Manual of Auxiliary Mechanisms.” “It’s fantastic!” he said. “What is?” said the little man. “This.” Kurt pointed to the conditioner. “J didn’t know they existed in real life. I thought they were just in books. You got a first echelon kit?” “Sure,” said Ozaki. “It’s in that recess by the head of the bunk. Why?” Kurt pulled the kit out of its retaining clips and opened its cover, fishing around until he found a small screwdriver and a pair of needle-nose pliers. “I think Ill fix it,” he said conversa- tionally. “Oh no you won't!” hawind Ozaki. “Air with fish is better than no air at all.” But before he could do anything, Kurt had pulled the cover off the air conditioner and was probing into the intricate mechanism with his screwdriver. A slight thumping noise came from inside. Kurt cocked his ear and thought. Suddenly his screwdriver speared down through the maze of whirring parts: He gave a slow quarter turn and the internal thumping disappeared. “See,” he said triumphantly, “no fish!” Ozaki stopped shaking long enough to give the air a tentative sniff. He had got out of the habit of smelling in self-defense and it took, him a minute or two to detect the difference. Suddenly a broad grin swept across his face. “It’s going away! I do believe it’s going away!” Kurt gave the screwdriver another quarter of a turn and suddenly the sharp spicy scent of pines swept through the scout. Ozaki took a deep ecstatic breath and re- laxed in his chair. His face lost its pallor. “How did you do it?” he said finally. “No comment,” said Kurt pleasantly. There was silence from below. Ozaki was in the throes of a brain storm. He was more impressed by Kurt’s casual repair of the air conditioner than he liked to admit. “Tell me,” he said cautiously, “can you fix other things beside air conditioners?” “T guess so,” said Kurt, “if it’s just simple stuff like this.” He gestured around the cabin. “‘Most of the stuff here needs fixing. They’ve got it together wrong.” “Maybe we could make a dicker,” said Ozaki. “You fix things, I answer questions —some questions that is,” he added hastily. “It’s a deal,” said Kurt who was filled more with a burning curiosity as to his where- abeuts. Certain things were already clear in his mind. He knew that wherever he was he’d never been there before. That meant evidently that there was a garrison on the other side of the mountains whose existence had never been suspected. What bothered him was how he had got there. “Check,” said Ozaki. “First, know anything about plumbing?” “What's plumbing?” asked curiously. “Pipes,” said Ozaki. “They’re plugged. They’ve been plugged for more time than I like to think about.” “I can try,” said Kurt. “Good!” said the pilot and ‘adicved him into the small cubicle that opened off the rear bulkhead. “You might tackle the shower while you’re at it.” ‘“What’s a shower?” - “That curved dingbat up there,” said Ozaki pointing. “The thermostat’s out of whack.” “Thermostats are kid. stuff,” said Kurt, shutting the door. Ten minutes later Kurt came out. “It’s all fixed.” _“T don’t believe it,” said Ozaki, shoulder- ing his way past Kurt. He reached down and pushed a small curved handle. There was the satisfying sound of rushing water. He next reached into the little shower com- partment and turned the knob to the left. With a hiss a needle spray of cold water burst forth. The pilot looked at Kurt with awe in his eyes. “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it! That’s two answers you've earned.” Kurt peered back into the cubicle curiously. “‘Well, first,’ he said, “now that I’ve fixed them, what are they for?” Ozaki explained briefly and a look of amazement came over Kurt’s face. Machi- nery he knew, but the idea it could be used for something was hard to grasp. “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn't have believed it!” he said slowly. This would be something to tell when he got home. Home! The pressing question of location popped back into his mind. “How far are we from the garrison?” he asked. Ozaki made a quick mental calculation. “Roughly two light-seconds,” he said. “How far’s that in kilometers?” Ozaki thought again “Around six hundred do you Kurt Comichooks Eo =