Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition, December 1955 — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

52 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION remarked, “It’s easier to cope when you’re up against guppies that are hostile and fighting mad. You just shoot your way out.” He grunted a few times. ““Here, if you sit around too long you’ve got to let yourself be trapped or else run over them in cold blood. That’s not my idea of how to do things.” Another grunt. “‘Hell of a planet. The fellow who found it ought to be made to live here.” “Find anything in your building?” Leigh asked him. “Yes, a dozen cops.” “What?” “Cops,”’ repeated the other. “It was a police station. I could tell because they all had the same uniforms, all carried duralumin bludgeons. And there were faces on the wall with queer printing beneath. I can’t recognize one face from another. They are all alike to me. But something told me those features hadn’t been stuck to the wall to commemorate saintliness.”’ “Did they show any antagonism toward you?” “They didn’t get the chance,” he said with open contempt. “I just kept shifting around looking at things and that had them foxed.” ““My building was a honey,” informed Pascoe. ““A telephone exchange.” Leigh twisted around to stare at him. “So they are supersonic speakers after all?” 3 “No. They use scanners and three-inch visiscreens. If ’'ve looked down one squirming gizzard, I’ve looked down twenty. What’s more, a speaker sometimes removes his palps from the screen and substitutes a sort of slow- motion display of deaf-and-dumb talk with his fingers. I have a vague idea that some of those digital acrobatics represented vitriolic cussing.”’ The driver put in nervously, “If we squat here much longer the road will be blocked both ends.” ‘Then let’s get out while there’s time.” **Back to the ship, sir?’ ‘Not yet. Wander around and see if you can find an industrial area.” The car rolled forward, went cautiously past a bunch of oncoming pedestrians, avoided the crowded square by trundling down another side street. Lying back in comfort, Pascoe held hands together over his stomach _and inquired interestedly, “I suppose none of you happened to find himself in a fire station?” Nobody had. “That’s what I’d give a thousand credits to see,’ he said. “A couple of pumps and a hook-and-ladder squad bursting out to deal with a con- flagration a mile away. The speed of combustion is no less on this world than on our own. It’s a wonder to me the town hasn’t burned down a dozen times.” “Perhaps it has,” offered Harding. “Perhaps they’re used to it. You can get accustomed to anything in the long run.” “In the long run,” agreed Pascoe. “Here it’s long enough to vanish into the mists of time. And it’s anything but a run.”’ He glanced at Leigh. ““What did you walk into?” | 4 COMME OOOKS.COM