Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition), April 1944 — page 41: what you’re looking at

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

THE BEAST “You get the pit for that,” he said. “Ill just tie you up and—” : He came forward and—yjust like that— a chil’ raced up Pendrake’s back. Monstrous head bent low, animal arms spread out, the abnormal strength of the man showed in all its hideous power. In a single flash of ter- rible realization, Pendrake’s confidence collapsed before the mighty thought that— No man born in the last hundred thousand years could begin to have the superhuman strength necessary to defeat this hairy, titantic beast. VII. THE whining winds of an early winter started to blow steadily in mid-September. On the thirtieth, snow fell; and nearly all New York State and Pennsylvania awoke on the morning of the first day of October to a world that was white and pure and peaceful. That same day far, far to the south, Hos- kins and Cree Lipton took off from the bulge of Brazil, and headed for Germany via Dakar, Algiers and Vichy. The converted Hotel Adlon on Unter den Linden, Berlin, was a beehive of United Nation officers. In the great thick-carpeted Red Room on the second floor, the general officer commanding Occupation Forces showed them around: “Now this,” he said, “is what we call our murder map. And in view of the watch we've been keeping for you the past two weeks, this is an amazingly interesting docu- ment.” The map was thirty feet long and covered with colored pins—hardly a “document,” Hoskins thought dryly. But he said noth- ing, simply watched and listened with an anxious will to hear the end result. “Two weeks ago to the day,” the general said, “‘we sent out the trucks all over what was formerly occupied Europe with the posters asking for information about the engine; the poster having been worded ac- cording to your cabled instructions.” He pulled out a package. of cigarettes, offered them to the two men; Hoskins re- fused with a tiny inclination of his head, and waited impatiently while the others lit up. The officer went on: “Now, before I tell you the extent and limitations of our success, I think it is necessary ¢o describe briefly the situation that exists in Germany today. As you know, Hitler’s method was to put a party man into every conceivable controlling position in every community. “Naturally, we deposed all these petty fuehrers, replacing them with the staunchest pre-war democrats we could find. At this point we ran into a difficulty. “The Nazis had anticipated us. In every district a secret Nazi cell had been built up with a secret leader under whose com- mand were young, stone-hearted men specially trained to commit murder and to defeat all attempts to reconstitute de- mocracy. The leaders we appointed hardly dare to make a move for fear of displeas- ing these hidden Nazi zone chiefs. “It will straighten out in time, of course. As the Nazi youth go into their thirties, get married, their zest for danger will fade; and the new, younger generation is being trained our way. - “Nevertheless, political creeds like preten- sions to thrones, die hard. And right now these people are committing about a thousand murders a week in Germany itself; about eight hundred more in the rest of Europe.” ‘““How does this affect the finding of in- formation about the engine and about the seven missing scientists whose bodies and whose families we couldn’t find in the U.S.A.2?” asked the heavy-jawed Lipton. “We made a murder graph of every dis- trict in Europe,” was the reply, “and as the _ appeal for information spread, watched day by day for any upswing in murders, the assumption being that great precautions would be taken by the Nazis in districts where information existed.” He faced the two men, a grim smile on his face. “TI report accordingly with mixed feelings, that the number of murders in two widely separated territories, one in Hohnstein in Saxony, the other in the town of Latzky, Bulgaria, increased out of all normal pro- portion.” “Bulgaria?” It was Lipton, his tone puzzled. Hoskins said quickly: “After all, our closest watch has always been on Germany proper. They must have found it easier to set up interplanetary bases among certain sympathetic people.” The general looked at him from shrewd brown eyes. “Exactly. We’ve made a very careful, cautious survey of those two districts. On the third day of our search we found a luxuriously furnished mine shaft at Hohn- (©) SoGO© oO MICLOO© 393: