Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

ad ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION explained; he was like a race driver fighting his car out of a skid on a bad corner. So engrossed was he in his task that he missed Bill’s announcement of “Stand by for cut-off!’ It surprised him when it came. It was a normal autopilot cut-off. For countless aeons, he’d been pinned to his couch; now he was falling. It snapped him out of it. Bill’s voice came to him, wildly en- thusiastic. “Beautiful! Dan, that was one for the books, boy!” Great waves of relief were washing over him. His breath came in gasping gulps; he had not realized he’d been so tense. He was cold and wet—soak- ing wet. ““You ain’t seen nothing yet, chum!” he snapped back. ““Wait until we try to set this teakettle down with- out Fin Two! Get your first fix! I might have loused up the trajectory so bad on that lift that we’ll miss inter- cept with the station! Jump!” He hit the intercom switch. “All hands se- cure from lifting! Frank, try to raise Bahama Beacon; get us a doppler radar check and shoot it to Bill! Jake, check your damage and report; make and mend if you can. We’ve gotten this far; we’ve got to make the station intercept! Ed, raise White Sands and tell them we made it this far! And warn them not to break out the drinks yet; we might miss the glory waggon as it goes by.” Dan hadn’t missed it. With a slight correction, an hour later found them nosing their way through floating debris in the vicinity of the space station. The wind had stopped and the New Mexico atmosphere was beauti- fully transparent again as_ usual. Parking in front of Jeanie’s house, Dan could see the Dona Ana Mountains rearing up to the north, their bare outlines as sharp as if they’d been drawn. The familiar Organs stood out boldly, angling up into the evening sunlight. Jeanie opened the door almost immediately after he knocked. Seeing who it was, she backed away and motioned him inside. He took off his hat and stood inside the door, watch- ing the girl. ““Dave is—?”’ she began. “Dave is O.K.,’’ Dan said quietly. “‘T just left the hospital at the Sands. He’s all right. He’s going to pull through.” Jeanie sat down on the sofa and ran her hands over her face. “I want to cry,” she said, “‘but I can’t.” Dropping his hat on the table, he relaxed into the chair he always sat in when he came over. ““They snagged his capsule just in time. And we didn’t think we were going to get him back to medical help. But... we did. That was the toughest job I ever had in my life.” She nodded, then looked up. “Would you like a drink, Dan?” “I didn’t intend to stay, but now that you’ve offered me one . . . yes.” Getting up he followed her into the kitchen. He dislodged the ice tray for her and reached the bottle on the top shelf when she couldn’t. As she mixed the drinks, she asked without looking up, ““You’re not mad at me, are you?”’ “Not now.” Jeanie gave him a glass, tossed the empty soda bottle through the wail into the trash, and picked up her own drink. “I want to apologize for that morning, Dan. I was upset.” “IT know that now. Dave means a lot to you, doesn’t he?” She nodded. “Dan... even though Dave and I are getting mar- ried, I want you to know I still think a lot of you—’ She held up her hand as Dan started to say some- thing. “I would still think the same connicloooks.c© iin