Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition), April 1944 — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

THE BEAST 35 _“I got all the aces, Pendrake,” Big Oaf’s voice projected softly across his brief reverie, “and a royal flush up my sleeve. I can’t get killed ‘less a rock falls down from the roof—’ He glanced up toward the height above, then looked at Pendrake, his grin broader. “It happened onct to a guy.” They had stopped. They stood in a little valley under a spread of trees. The town was beyond the rim of the hill. But for the moment there was not a sound of raucous laughter, not a whisper of voices. They were alone in a queer universe, man and semi- man facing each other. Pendrake broke the thrall: “I'm not going to count on it happen- ing to you.” Big Oaf guffawed. “Now you’re smart. I thought you’d catch on quick. Lissen, Pen- drake, you can’t buck me, so think over what I've told you. Meantime, I want your promise you won’t mix up with anybody. Is that fair?” “Absolutely,” said: Pendrake. He felt no compunction about the swift promise. It was clear that he had gone to the very edge of the abyss in his opposition; and he wasn’t ready. If there was one thing the years of fighting had taught every sane human being on Earth, it was that death came easily to those who fought fair against those who didn’t. Big Oaf was continuing: *“Maybe we could even work together on a couple of things, like those Germans. Maybe I’d even let you look that machine over after the next sleep. Say-y-y—” “Yes?” Pendrake stared at him warily. “Didn’t you tell me your wife was a prisoner of the Germans. How’d you like to spend a coupla weeks leadin’ an expedi- tion to see if you could rescue her?”’ Pendrake’s brain thrummed. It became a pain that extended down into his body, and then he saw that the other’s small, shrewd eyes were contemplating him sharply. Excitement puffed out of him. Eleanor had to be rescued fast—but he couldn’t see himself bringing her down here until he had consolidated his position with Devlin and the others. Couldn't see himself at all on an expedition of which the large pur- pose would be mass woman stealing. Compromise plus his own desperate necessity was going to make for complica- tion. | Vil. “It’s time to get up!” Morrison came into the bedroom the next morning with the announcement. “Time?” Pendrake stared at the slim young fellow. “Isn’t all time down here the same. Why shouldn’t I just stay here until I get hungry?” To his surprise, Morrison shook his head doggedly. ““You’ve been sick, but that’s over. Now, you’ve got to fit into the routine. Big Oaf says so.” Pendrake studied the other’s lean face. The thought that was in his mind had to do with Morrison as a spy on his activities. It hadn’t really struck him before how much of a Big Oaf follower the clerk-ish littl fellow was. : His plan to spend the next few days in an intensive sizing up of everything and everybody in this strange land might as well begin here and now. Not that Morrison was dangerous as an individual. The man would always be a supporter of the regime that was in. “Big Oaf,” said Morrison, “has got every- thing organized. Twelve hours for sleep, four hours for eating and so on—you don’t have to eat or sleep of course. You can do anything you want so long as you’re ready to do your eight hours a day work.” “Work?” Morrison explained: ‘‘There’s guard duty; the cows have to be milked twice a day. Then there’s the gardens to look after, and we kill several steers a week. It’s all work.” He pointed with a sweep of his arm, vaguely. “The gardens are over there beyond some trees, in the opposite direction from the pit where the beast is.” He finished: “Big Oaf wants to know what you can do.” Pendrake smiled wryly. So the apeman was letting him know what life would be like if he was not one of the bosses. It wasn’t the work but the sudden vivid picture of the tight system of a law-and- order hierarchy behind it, that was unset- tling. Pendrake frowned, said finally: “Tell Big Oaf that I can milk cows, work in gardens, do guard duty and a couple of other things.” But there were no work orders for him that day. Or the next. He wandered around the town. Some of the men rebuffed his approaches, others were so uneasy that talk- ing to them was a hopeless chore, still others including men who were staunch supporters of the Big Oaf were curious about Earth. Some of these had the idea that he was going to be one of them. oO comicbooks.€©