Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition, December 1955 — page 44: what you’re looking at

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

42 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION “Is there any evidence of opposition such as aircraft, gun emplacements or rocket pits?” ““No, commodore, not that I can see.”’ “Then you can go down but don’t drop too fast. Sheer out immediately if fired upon.” ) Silence during which Leigh had another look outside. The train was continuing to come back at velocity definable as chronic. He estimated that it would take most of an hour to reach the nearest point. ‘“Now at five hundred,” the loud-speaker declared. ‘“‘Great Jupiter, I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re moving all right. But they’re so sluggish I have to look twice to make sure they really are alive and in action.” A pause, then, “‘Believe it or not, there’s a sort of street-car system in operation. A baby eighteen months old could toddle after one of those vehicles and catch it.” “Come back,” Leigh ordered sharply. ““Come back and report on the nearby town.” “As you wish, commodore.” Ogilvy sounded as if he were obeying with reluctance. , ‘““Where’s the point of withdrawing him from there?’ asked Pascoe, irritated by this abrupt cutting-off of data. ““He’s in no great danger. What will he learn from one place that he cannot get from another?’’ “He can confirm or deny the thing that is all-important, namely, that conditions are the same elsewhere and are not restricted to one locale. When he’s had a look at the town Ill send him a thousand miles away for a third and final check.” His gray eyes were thoughtful as he went on, “In olden times a Martian visitor could have made a major blunder if he’d judged Earth by one of its last remaining leper colonies. Today we’d make precisely the same mistake if this happens to be a quarantined area full of native paralytics.” “Don’t say it,” put in Walterson, displaying some nervousness. “If we’ve sat down in a reservation for the diseased, we’d better get out mighty fast. I don’t want to be smitten by any alien plague to which I’ve no natural resistance. I had a narrow enough escape when I missed that Hermes expedition six years ago. Remember it? Within three days of landing the entire complement was dead, their bodies growing bundles of stinking strings later defined as a fungus.” “We'll see what Ogilvy says,” Leigh decided. “If he reports what we consider more normal conditions elsewhere, we’ll move there. If they prove the same, we’ll stay.” ‘Stay,’ echoed Pascoe, his features expressing disgust. “Something tells me you picked the right word—stay.”” He gestured toward the port beyond which the train was a long time coming. “If what we’ve seen and what we’ve heard has any meaning at all, it means we’re in a prize fix.” ‘Such as what?” prompted Walterson. ““We can stay a million years or go back home. For once in our triumphant history we’re well and truly thwarted. We’ll gain nothing whatever from this world for a good and undefeatable reason, namely, life’s too short.” : CONNIE OOKS-COR