Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition, December 1955 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

THE WAITABITS 31 v.ere bothered, bedeviled or busted but at least they were never bored. The roblems were not commonplace, the solutions sometimes fantastic. The door detected his body-heat as he approached, swung open with silent efficiency. He went through, took a chair, gazed phlegmatically at the heavy man behind the desk. “Ah, Commodore Leigh,” said Markham pleasantly. He shuffied some papers, got them in order, surveyed the top one. “I am informed that the Thunderer’s overhaul is complete, the crew has been recalled and everything is ready for flight.” “That is correct.” “Well now, I have a task for you.”” Markham put on the sinister smile that invariably accompanied such an announcement. After years of reading what had followed in due course, he had conceived the notion that all tasks were funny except when they involved a massacre. ““You are ready and eager for another trip, I trust?” “IT am always ready,” said Commodore Leigh. He had outgrown the eagerness two decades back. “I have here the latest consignment of scout reports,” Markham went on. He made a disparaging gesture. ““You know what they’re like. Condensed to the minimum and in some instances slightly mad. Happy the day when we receive a report detailed with scientific thoroughness.” “You'll get that only from a trained mind,” Leigh commented. “Scouts are not scientists. They are oddities who like roaming the loneliest reaches of space with no company but their own. Pilot-trained hoboes willing to wander at large, take brief looks and tell what they’ve seen. Such men are useful and necessary. Their shortcomings can be made up by those who follow them.” “Precisely,” agreed Markham with suspicious promptness. “So this is where we want you to do some following.” ‘What is it this time?” “We have Boydell’s latest report beamed through several relay stations. He is way out in the wilds.”” Markham tapped the paper irritably. “This particular scout is known as Gabby Boydell because he is anything but that. He uses words as if they cost him fifty dollars apiece.” ‘Meaning he hasn’t said enough?” asked Leigh smiling. “Enough? He’s told us next to nothing!’ He let go.an emphatic snort. “Eighteen planets scattered all over the shop and not a dozen words about each. He discovers a grand total of eighteen planets in seven previously unexplored systems and the result doesn’t occupy half a page.” “Going at that speed, he’d not have time for much more,” Leigh ventured. ne can’t write a book about a world without taking up residence for a Ww e.”’ “That may be. But these crackpot scouts could do better and it’s time they were told as much.” He pointed an accusative finger. ““Look at this item. The eleventh planet he visited. He has named it Pulok for some reason _ that is probably crazy. His report employs exactly four words: ‘Take it and Welcome.’ What do you make of that?” ? Comicbooksscom