Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition — page 92: what you’re looking at

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

90 “What if the Furries had the EG screen?” “That isn’t likely. Everyone agrees the EG screen was discovered as a fluke. Two centuries of study and we still don’t know why it operates.”’ She abandoned abstract discussion. “We have a new wrinkle in a distant space- ship spotter, uses information proba- | bilities to reconstruct shapes. It’s already on its way out with the fleet to be tested, but we’d rather you did it. Check it at maximum range for shape discriminations.” When he picked it up it was a built- over civilian sportster. He reported in to the fleet command on the way there and was relayed to scout command who informed him that a Furry cruiser had been seen outside of the system heading in toward Mark I, and he was temporarily assigned scout work to test the new device in action. Calland ranged im space, scanning the arc that had been assigned to him. The sportster, though small, was com- fortable and warm and well lit, and a bell rang on the screen whenever any- thing of ship shape registered, so that he did not have to watch constantly but could look up from whatever else he: was. doing. He passed his time reading light magazines, occupying the surface of his mind. Whenever he read the same para- graph over and over for more than a ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION minute he became curious and checked the current of his thoughts to see what prevented him from concentrating. It was always the same problem. How could he smuggle himself inside a Furry cruiser. The plans he thought of were diffi- cult, devious, and unlikely, repre- senting the fact that the problem was not easy. He discarded them for one reason or another, and immediately began to think up another. It occurred to him that his single- minded concentration was fanatical, and a psychotherapist would object to it. And it also occurred to him, with equal logic, that this abnormal con- centration was very likely to find an answer, if there were any answer. The Furry cruiser, when it came, came in from an angle which was a long way from his sector. The scouts were well placed, and the radio an- nouncements of the cruiser’s position and direction preceded it and widened on either side like a bow wave. His was the eighth scout to send in the cruiser’s course co-ordinates, but they were taken from a distance supposedly completely out of range of ordinary detection, and he continued to keep the screen focused on the cruiser, following it in towards his planet by screen only, since the scouts were ordered to continue scouting their sectors and report any further appear- ance of ships. comico ooks.c© im