Astounding British Edition, Vol. 9, No. 7 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

ae ‘ : o ~ : € t + — tod . bs = NULL-ABC the Joyner-Graves faction wanted to secure the re-election of Grant Hamilton, and the way things had been going in the past two months, only Chester Pelton’s death could accomplish that. Latterman had probably thrown out Pelton’s nitro- caine capsules and then put Bayne up to insulting Pelton’s daughter, knowing that a fit of rage would bring on another heart attack, which could be fatal without the medicine. “Well, send for more!” “The prescription’s in the safe,’ she said faintly. - The office safe was locked, and only a Literate could open it. The double com- bination was neatly stenciled on the door, the numbers spelled out as words and the letters spelled in phonetic equivalents. All three of them—himself, Claire, and Russel Latterman—could read _ them. None of them dared admit it. Latterman was fairly licking his chops in anticipa- tion. If Cardon opened the safe, Pelton’s campaign manager stood convicted as a Literate. If Claire opened it, the gaggle of Illiterate clerks in the doorway would see, and speedily spread the news, that the daughter of the arch-foe of Literacy was herself able to read. Maybe Latter- man hadn’t really intended his employer to die. Maybe this was the situation he had really intended to contrive. : Chester Pelton couldn’t be allowed to die. If Grant Hamilton were returned to the Senate, the long-range planning of William Lancedale would suffer a crush- ing setback, and the public reaction would be catastrophic. The plan comes first, Lancedale had told him. He made his decision, and then saw. that he hadn’t needed to make it. Claire had straightened, left her father, crossed quickly to the safe, and was kneeling in front of it, her back stiff with determination, her fingers busy at the dials, here eyes going from them to the printed combination and back again. She swung open the door, skimmed through the papers inside, unerringly selected the prescription, and rose. “Here, Russ; go get it filled at once,” she ordered. “And hurry!” Oh, no, you don’t, Cardon thought. One chance is enough for you, Russ. ~. He snatched the prescription from her and turned to Latterman. “Tl get it,” he told the sales manager. “You’re needed for the sale; stay on the job here.” “But with the Literates walked out, we can’t—” Cardon blazed: “Do I have to teach you your business? Have a sample of each item set aside at the counter, and pile sales slips under it. And for unique items, just detach the tag and put it with the sales slip. Now get out of here, and get cracking with it!” He picked up the pistol that had been taken from Pelton when he had tried to draw it on Bayne, checking the chamber and setting the safety. “Know how to use this?” he asked Claire. “Then hang onto it, and stay close to your father. This wasn’t any accident, it was a deliberate attempt on his life. Pll have a couple of store cops sent in here; see that they stay with you.” He gave her no chance to argue, Push- ing Latterman ahead of him, he drove through the mob of clerks outside the door. “. . » Course she can; didn’t you see her open the safe?” he heard. “. . . No- body but a Literate—” “Then she’s a Literate, herself!” 17 A couple of centuries ago, they would — have talked like that if it had been dis- covered that the girl were pregnant; a couple of centuries before. that, they — would have been equally horrified if she had been discovered to have been a Protestant, or a Catholic, or whatever the locally unpopular religion happened to be. By noon, this would be all over Penn- Jersey-York; coming on top of Slade Gardner’s accusations— He ran up the spiral escalator, stumbl- ing and regaining his footing as he left it. Bayne and his striking Literates were all gone; he saw a sergeant of Pelton’s store police and went toward him, taking his spare identity-badge from his pocket. “Here,” he said, handing it to the sergeant. “Get another officer, and go down to Pelton’s office. Show it to Miss Pelton, and tell her I sent you. There’s been an attempt on Chester Pelton’s life; you’re to stay with him. Use your own judgment, but don’t let anybody, and that <SiGO GOMIGchdoOo qo ore