Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition, December 1955 — page 83: what you’re looking at

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

RAT RACE 8i “Nothing there but this wire,” said Welch. “What did you do with it?’ asked Lewis. “Nothing,” said Czernak. ““We just left if like it was and took pictures.” “Anything under the floor?’’ Czernak’s face brightened. ‘‘Boy, we sure hit the jackpot there!’’ He bent his head and peered closely at Lewis. ““How’d you know we’d find something under there?’’ ‘‘T just knew those tanks kept appenias out of nowhere, *“What was under there?” Czernak straightened. “‘Well, a whole section of the hall floor was an elevator and down below there was this big room. It stretched from under the hall to clear under the embalming room and there was a section of the embalming room flcor where a bunch of tiles come up in one piece and there was a trapdoor and a stairway. Hell! It was just like one of them horror movies!” “What was down there?” ‘“‘A buncha machinery,” said Czernak. “What kind?” “T dunno.”’ Czernak shook his head, glanced at Welch. “Craziest stuff I ever saw,” said Welch, He shrugged. “Doc Bellarmine came down and had a look at it after the autopsy last night,”’ said Czernak. “He said he’d be in to see you this morning.” ‘Did he say anything about the autopsy?” asked Lewis. “Not to me,” said Czernak. Welch hitched his chair closer to the foot of the bed, rested an arm on the rail. ““He told me it was something about the autopsy made him come down to have a look at the mortuary,” he said. ‘“He didn’t say what it was, though.”’ “What about the mortuary staff?” asked Lewis. “Did they say anything about the secret room?” “They swear they never even knew it was there,” said Czernak. “We took ’em all into custody anyway, all except Tule and his wife.” “Tule?” “Yeah, the other partner. His wife was a licensed mortician, too. Ain’t been seen since the night you were shot. The staff says that Johnson, Tule and the wife was always locking doors around the building for no good reason at all.” “What did this machinery look like?” “Part of it was just an elevator for that section of floor. The other stuff was hooked up to a bunch of pipes coming down from the embalming table upstairs. There was this big—* Czernak stopped as the door opened. Dr. Bellarmine’s cynical face peered into the room. His eyes swept over the occupants, he entered, closed the door behind him. “The patient’s feeling better, I see,’ he said. “‘For a while there I thought this would be a job for me in my official capacity. e “This guy’ll outlive all of us,” said Welch. “He probably will at that,” said the doctor. He glanced down at Lewis. “Feel like a little conversation?” 99 said Lewis. — [email protected])