Astounding Science Fiction (UK Edition) — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

bet ; ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION greenie abode. His full attention was upon the vacant entrance to that house, and he failed to be wary of another tree under which he had moved. This growth was of medium size, had a silvery green bark, long, ornamental leaves from which dangled sprays of stringy threads. The ends of the threads came within four feet of the ground. He brushed against two of them. Came a sharp, bluish flash of light, a smell of ozone and scorched hair, and he dropped. He’d been electrocuted as thoroughly as if smit- ten by a stroke of lightning. Mist or no mist, we carried him back the hundred yards we'd just traversed, buried him beside his comrade. ‘That jab was done in the nick of time. The crawling leprosy was at our very heels as we resumed our way. High in the almost concealed sky the sun poured down its limpid rays and made mosaic patterns through overhead leaves. _ Giving a wide berth to this latest menace, which we named the voltree, we hit the end of Main Street. Here, we had the advan- tage in.one way, though not in another. The houses stood dead in line and well apart; we could march along the center of the route beneath the wider gap of sky and be beyond reach of this planet’s bellicose vegetation. But this made our march exposed to attack from any direction by any natives who might be determined to oppose our escape. We'd have to do the trip, one way or the other, with our necks stuck out a yard. Sug Farn said to me, “You know, I’ve an idea well worth developing.” “What is it?”’ I demanded, hopefully. “Supposing that we had twelve squares aside,” he suggested, “we could then have four more pawns and four new master pieces. I propose to call the latter ‘archers.’ They would move two squares forward, and could take opponents one square sidewise. Wouldn’t that make a beautifully compli- cated game?” “You,” I told him, “may go drown your- self!” “As I should have known, your mental appreciation is poor.” So saying, he ex- tracted a bottle of hooloo scent which some- how he’d managed to retain through all the turmoil, moved away from me, and sniffed it in a deliberately offensive manner. I don't give a damn what anybody says—we don’t smell like Martians say we do! These octopuses are downright liars. : Stopping both our progress and argument, Jay Score growled, “I guess this'll do.” Un- hitching his portable radio, he tuned it up, said into its microphone. “That you, Steve?” A pause, then, “Yes, we’re waiting about a quarter of a mile on the river side of the glade. ‘No, there’s been no opposition—yet. But it’ll come, it'll come. O.K., we’ll wait.” Another pause. “We’ll give it guidance by sound.” Turning his attention from the radio to the sky, but with one earpiece still in action, he listened intently. We all listened. For a while there was nothing but that throb, throb, throb which never ceased upon this crazy world, but presently came a faraway drone like the hum of an approaching bumblebee. - Jay snatched at the mike. “We’ve got you. You’re coming nearer.” The drone grew louder. “Nearer, nearer.” He waited a mo- ment. “Now you're away to one side.” The drone drifted off. “No, you’ve swerved the wrong way.” Another brief wait. The distant sound suddenly grew strong. “Heading cor- _Tectly now.” The drone swelled to a roar. “Right!” yelled Jay. ““You’re almost on us!” He looked expectantly upward, and we followed his gaze like one man. The next instant the pinnace raced across the sky gap at such a pace that it had come and gone in less time than it takes to draw one breath. But those aboard must have seen us for the little vessel zoomed around in a wide, graceful arc, hit the main stem a couple of miles farther down, and came up it at terrific speed. This time, we could watch it most of the way, and we yelled ' at it as if we were a gang of excited kids. “Got us?” inquired Jay of the micro- phone. “All right, try it on the next run.” Again the pinnace swept arourd, struck its former path, tore the air as it traveled toward us. It was like a monster’ shell from some old-time cannon. Things fell from its underside as it neared us, bundles and pack- ages in a parachuted stream. The stuff came down as manna from heaven while the sower passed uproariously on and dug a hole in the northern sky. But for these in- fernal trees the pinnace could have landed and snatched the lot of us from danger’s grasp. Eagerly we pounced on the supplies, tear- ing covers open and dragging out the con- tents. Spacesuits for all. Well, they’d pre- serve us from various forms of gaseous unpleasantness. Needlers, oiled and loaded, together with reserves of excitants. A small case, all sponge rubber and cotton wool, containing half a dozen atomic bombs. An ampoule of iodine and a first-aid pack apiece. Ccomiclooks.c©