Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition) — page 41: what you’re looking at

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

THE GULF BETWEEN 39 and chained by it. He tried vainly to speak, the horror of sudden realization and fear in his eyes, then the blank- ness of unconsciousness clouded them. Knight turned away from the view- screen. Cullin would be conscious when he returned to it later in the day. Cullin would not die for a long, long time—the doctor in the control room was very competent. He went to the door and stepped outside. The ship was gone, already beyond sight, and the last of the paratroopers were throwing down their guns and surrendering to the Center forces that surrounded them. The planes were gone; back to carriers somewhere in the Pacific, he pre- sumed, there to depend upon the threat of the disintegrator rays to shield them and the carriers from retaliation. But there would be no war. Russo- Asia had put all her eggs in one basket and one wrong word had sent that basket away forever. Someone was lying near Lab 4; motionless on the ground, his rimless glasses knocked askew by the bullet that had killed him and looking mild and apologetic, even in death. Knight felt a sense of relief. Vickson had paid the penalty and it had been gentle compared with the penalty Cullin would pay. It was as it should be. “Blacky.” June was coming toward him, a cartridge belt sagging from her waist and a rifle in her hands. “We've lost, haven’t we?’ she asked, stopping before him. “They took the ship and we couldn’t stop them.” “The ship will never come back,” he said. He looked down at her, her grimy hands clutching the rifle, her clothes torn and her face scratched and dirty and tear-streaked. He saw that most of the clips were gone from the cartridge belt. “They got Tim,” she said. “They must have killed him in the first bombing. I ought to go back and try to help—there are so many people in need of help and it’s what Connie would want me to do. But first”’— She looked up at him, tears suddenly threatening to wash a new channel through the dirt on her face—‘“can’t we take her—home?” He took the rifle she still held and let his hand rest on her shoulder. “First, we'll take Connie home.” The doctor’s pre-flight training had included the order to keep the pilot in- formed of each man’s physical condition. How long had it been since the doctor last changed the words on the pilot’s communications panel? Was his time finally within short minutes of its end? It was no longer hours, but minutes. The words read: OBSERVER HAS A LIFE EXPECTANCY OF ONE FANTASY BOOK CENTRE ® BOOKS FOR SALE—liatest always . stock, widest selection of best titles. © BOOKS TO BORROW—postal or personal Lending-Library of more than one thousand titles. @ WE SELL MAGAZINES — latest and vintage, U.S.A. and British, largest stock in Europe. ALL sub- scriptions placed. Professional bind- ing service. @ WE BUY.BOOKS AND MAGA- ZINES—half price for fine digest- size U.S.A. magazines. One-third for fine books. Send goods or list for our ‘no-risk’ offer. FANTASY BOOK CENTRE 52 Stoke Newington Rd., LONDON, N.16 (CLissold 5541) 10 Sicilian Avenue, (near Holborn tube) Southampton Row, London, W.C.1 (CHAncery 8669) Comicbooks:co ae