Astounding Science Fiction (UK Edition) — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

THE STORM 17 gorging a lifeboat that glinted a yellowish silver as it circled out into the sunlight, and started down. Maltby had only a moment with the woman before the lifeboat landed. “To think,” he said, “that I just now figured out the truth.” She was, he saw, not looking at him. Her gaze seemed far away. He went on: “As for the rest, the best method, I imagine, is to put me in the conditioning chamber, and—” Still without looking at him, she cut him off : . “Don’t be ridiculous. You must not imagine that I feel embarrassed because you have kissed me. I shall receive you later in my quarters.” A bath, new clothes—at last Maltby stepped through the transmitter into the astrophysics department. His own __ first realization of the tremendous truth, while generally accurate, had lacked detailed facts. “Ah, Maltby!” The chief of the depart- ment came forward, shook hands. “Some sun you picked there—we suspected from your first description of the yellowness and the black. But naturally we couldn’t rouse your hopes—Forbidden, you know. “The axial tilt, the apparent length of a summer in which jungle trees of great size showed no growth rings—very suggestive. The featureless spectrum with its complete lack of dark lines—almost conclusive. Final proof was that the orthosensitive film was overexposed, while the blue and red sensi- tives were badly underexposed. “This star-type is so immensely hot that practically all of its energy radiation is far in the ultravisible. A secondary radiation— a sort of fluorescence in the star’s own at- mosphere—produces the visible yellow when a minute fraction of the appalling ultra- violet radiation is transformed into longer wave lengths by helium atoms. A fluorescent lamp, in a fashion—but on a scale that is more than ordinarily cosmic in its violence. The total radiation reaching the planet was naturally tremendous; the surfdce radiation, after passing through miles of absorbing ozone, water vapor, carbondioxide and other gases, was very different. “No wonder the native said it had always been hot. The summer lasts four thousand years. The normal radiation of that special appalling star type—the eon-in-zon-out radiation rate—is about equal to a full- fledged Nova at its catastrophic maximum of violence. It has a period of a few hours, and is equivalent to approximately a hun- dred million ordinary suns. Nova O, we call that brightest of all stars; and there’s only one in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, the great and glorious S-Doradus. “When I asked you to call Grand Captain Laurr, and [I told her that out of thirty million suns she had picked—” It was at that point that Maltby cut him off. “Just a minute,” he said, “did you say you told Lady Laurr last night?” “Was it night down there?” Captain Planston said, interested. “Well, well—By the way, I almost forgot—this marrying and giving in marriage is not so important to me now that I am an old man. But congratula- tions.” - The conversation was too. swift for Maltby. His minds were still examining the first statement. That she had known all the time. He came up, groping, before the new words. “Congratulations?” he echoed. “Definitely time she had a _ husband,” boomed the captain. “She’s been a career woman, you know. Besides, itll have a re- vivifying effect on the other robots .. . pardon me. Assure you, the name means nothing to me. “Anyway, Lady Laurr herself made the announcement a few minutes ago, so come _ down and see me again.” He turned away with a wave of a thick hand. Maltby headed for the nearest transmitter. She would probably be expecting him by now. She would not be disappointed. Ccomiclbooks.€©