Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition) — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

14 The doctor would watch over him during the next one hundred hours, waiting for a pilot he knew did not exist to reduce the acceleration. For one hundred hours the doctor would wait, knowing as fully as he that no spectral finger would reach out from the empty chair and press the deceleration button. The doctor could reduce the accelera- tion. The doctor knew he wanted it done but the doctor was waiting to be ordered to do so. He had only to speak two words: “Reduce acceleration.’ The doctor would obey at once—the doctor was patienily waiting for him to speak the words. But the doctor knew he couldn’t speak ! There was a soft thump outside the door of his cottage and Knight left his after-breakfast coffee to pick up the morning paper. His cottage set on the slope above Computer Center with the near-by Miles cottage his only close neighbor, and the Center laid out below in neat squares. The gray concrete hemisphere that housed the Master Computer was at the southern edge of the city with the four laboratory buildings grouped beyond it. Beyond them the landing field reached out into the desert and the desert stretched. on to the harsh, bold mountains to the east. Center hadn’t looked like that at first. In the seven years he had been there it had grown from a random scattering of army barracks into a city of four thousand with all the bustle and ambition of a city that intended to grow still larger. Even then it would not be a large city as cities go but it would, in its way, be the most important city in the world. One of its achievements alone, the synthe- sis of food starch, would soon gain it that distinction. He carried the paper inside and ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION spread it out on the breakfast table, to read with certain skepticism: CHUIKOV NEW AMBASSADOR Nicolai Chuikov has been appointed the new ambassador to the United States. ‘Demoted in the first post-war years from a position of power in Dovorski’s cabinet to a minor clerical job in an obscure province for his expression of the desirability of trade and friendly relations with the West, Chuikov has been reinstated with honors. This is in line with a softening of the anti-American attitude that first became evident two years ago; an increasing emphasis on the need for East and West to observe the nonaggression agree- ments of the peace terms and a cessation of communistic underground activities in the West. Chuikov’s appointment has, of course, received the blessings of the official press, the New Socialist. The New Socialist, which viciously condemned Chuikov as ‘“pro- Western’? and ‘‘a menace to the People’s State” six years ago, now extols him as “‘the best qualified man Premier Dovorski could have chosen for the important task of creating good will between East and West—’’ Knight snorted. It was true that there had been no official red activity in America during the past two years, but efficient workers didn’t advertise themselves. And the Iron Curtain showed no signs of any raising in the near future. An item near the bottom of the page was more interesting: TRAITOR MOVES UP The ambitious American traitor, William Peter Cullin, was promoted to Commanding Supervisor of the Socialist State Police today. He was lauded by the’ New Socialist for his “‘patriotic and tireless zeal in strengthening the efficiency of the police and enabling them to guard Russo-Asia from traitors against the people.” Cullin, once head of the red spy network in this country, has acquired the dubious honor of being the first American to ever rise to 2 position of considerable power in an enemy country. He renounced his American citizen- ship two years ago, after having served eighteen months as a behind-the-scenes co- planner of Socialist State Police operations. His “‘efficiency’”’ in ridding Russo-Asia of “traitors against the people’ has been EComichooks.co im "