Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition), April 1944 — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

THE BEAST He leaped to his feet, grabbed his hat and - coat. “Come on. Let’s go!” When the uproar started, the stocky man glanced sharply at the leader. “Excellency—” he began. He stopped as he saw that the gaunt man was sitting with the phone still in his fingers, staring straight ahead of him. Uneasily, Birdman watched as the receiver dropped finally from the other’s fingers, watched as the man sat there his face like a dark, life- less mask. Birdman ventured: “Excellency, you were saying just before the phone lights came on that now that our positions on the Moon and nearly all our engines have been cap- tured, we would use those that escaped as a nucleus for piratical depradations on the interplanetary highways that will now be’ opened up. We would become, you said, the pirates of the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries. We—”’ He stopped, froze in horror. The long, bony fingers of the other were groping into a desk drawer. They came out holding a Mauser automatic. As Lipton and Hoskins and a dozen other men burst into the room, the stocky man was on his feet facing the spare-built man at the desk, who was raising a revolver up to his forehead. “Excellency,” Birdman was crying wildly, “you lied. You are afraid of the Shapo- shenko punishment.” The pistol blared; and the gaunt man twisted in his brief agony, and slid to the floor. Birdman stood over him with a numb terror; he felt but dimly the presence of the intruders. As he was led away, there was in him only wave after wave of utter disillusionment. They were still perspiring. The cave where they had been frantically trying to bring down the roof was too narrow for so many men; and Pendrake, who was gasping with the rest for his share of the oxygen-depleted air, was just thinking: “Have to order the crew back—” At that moment the messenger arrived. Pendrake listened in a stark wonder at the man who had come from Devlin: “A German prisoner, who died, says their camps are being attacked by American armies. Whatever the reason, the Nazis are withdrawing toward the surface—”’ Pendrake said: “Impossible! “It’s a trick. Nobody on Earth even knows about the Nazis being here, and besides, how did they get to the Moon so swiftly. There couldn’t 45 be another engine lying in a hillside—and the Nazis wouldn’t give up after all these months of digging after us. Where’s Devlin?” But an hour later there was no doubt. Whatever the reason, the fight was over. “We'll have to send a patrol to find out what happened!” Pendrake said. He saw with a start that Devlin was staring at him queerly. “Look, boss,” the man said diffidently, “I'll lead that patrol. As for you —well—the men have been wonderin’ what you and your wife are going to do now. “Wait!” he went on in a violent tone, al- though Pendrake had made no attempt to interrupt. “This is a serious business. We’re all pretty well agreed that this place oughtn’t to get known. We’ve got something here that can’t be shared with a billion people, at least not until somebody figures out how it works. “What I mean is, go and talk things over with your wife and— What’s the matter?” Pendrake was smiling. “My wife and I have already talked things over. You may remember that I told you that our first child was born dead.” “Yes?” “What I didn’t tell you is that she can’t have any more children. That’s what she was taking so hard. Our blood dies forever with us. We've got to be personally immortal. “What we have in mind,” he went on - swiftly, “will mean bringing a few carefully selected teachers from Earth, and equip- ment. If we can get agreement on it, we'll start a system of education down here that will take full advantage of the gradual in- crease in everybody’s intelligence. Big Oaf was proof that such an increase does take place. I’ve even got an idea for the tiger for some time in the future when we get these Lunar machines working—” “Listen,” said Devlin, “what I get out of these words is that you’re staying. Am I right?” “Right.” They grinned at each other. Then they shook hands. Pendrake said finally: “We'd better get going. I want us, if pos- sible, to get one of the atomic engines, and I’ve got to see those American forces with my own eyes—” Four days later he saw—swarms of ships with great streaks of red fire flaring from tubes in the rear. Pendrake took one long startled look, and gasped: “Rocket ships!’ continued on page 64. comiclooks.c©