Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition), April 1944 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

RECOIL 5 on his first try, either. Come on, fellows, and we'll clean up this mess.” With the utter disregard that inanimate objects show toward the inner feelings of the human being, the meteor alarm blinked again and the bell rang. The pilot tube swiveled quickly to one side, lining up with the spot in the celestial globe of the meteor detector. Out in the turret that housed the big tube, motors strived against welded commutators and the big tube tried to follow. Walt looked at the pointing tube and said: “All right! Go ahead and point!” Don Channing smiled at Arden. “Mrs. Channing,” he said, “must you persist in keeping me from my first love?”’ Arden smiled winningly. “Naturally. That’s what I’m here for. I intend to replace your first love entirely and completely.” “Yeah,” drawled Don, “and what would we live on?” “Tl permit you to attend to your so- called first love during eight hours every day, providing that you remember to think of me every half-hour.” “That’s fine. But you really aren’t fair about it. We were on Terra for two weeks. I was just getting interested in a program outlined by one of the boys that works for Interplanet, and what happened? You hauled me off to Mars. We stayed for a week at the Terraland Hotel at Canalopsis and the first time that Keg Johnson came to see us with an idea and a sheaf of papers, you rush me off to Lincoln Head. Now I’m scared to death that some guy will try to open a blueprint here; at which [ll be rushed off to the Palanortis Country until someone finds us there. Then itll be the Solar Observatory on Mercury or the Big Glass on Luna.” Arden soothed Don’s feelings by sitting on his lap and snuggling. “Dear,” she said in a voice that positively dripped, “we’re on a honeymoon, remember?” Don stood up, dumping Arden to the floor. “Yeah,” he said, “but this is the highest velocity honeymoon that I ever took!” “And it’s the first one I was ever on where the bridegroom took more time admiring beam installations than he took to whisper sweet nothings to his gal. What has a beam transmitter got that I haven’t got?” “One: Its actions can be predicted. Two: It can be controlled. Three: It never says anything original, but only repeats what it has been told. Four: It can be turned off.” Arden caught Don on the point of the chin with a pillow and effectively smothered him. She followed her slight advantage with a frontal attack that carried him backward across the bed, where she landed on top viciously and proceeded to lambaste him with the other pillow. It was proceeding according to plan, this private, good-natured war, until a knock on the door caused a break in operations. Chan- ning struggled out from beneath Arden and went to the door trying to comb his hair by running spread fingers through it. He went with a sense of failure caused by Arden’s quiet laugh and the statement that he re- sembled a bantam rooster. The man at the door apologized, and then said: “I’m Doug Thomas of the Triworld News.” “Come in,” said Don, “and see if you can find a place to sit.” “Thanks.” “IT didn’t know that Triworld News was interested in the wedded life of the Chan- nings. Why doesn’t Triworld wait until we find out about it ourselves?” “Triworld does not care to pry into the private life of the newly wed Channing family,” laughed Doug. “We, and the rest of the system do not give a damn whether Mrs. Channing calls you Bunny-bit or Sugar- pie—” ‘“Sweetums,” corrected Arden with a gleam in her eye. ‘““__we’ve got something big to handle. I can’t get a thing out of the gang at Canal- opsis, they’re all too busy worrying.” “And so you came here? What do you expect to get out of us? We’re not connected in any way with Canalopsis.” “I know,” said Doug, “but you do know space. Look, Channing, the Solar Queen has been missing since yesterday morning!” Don whistled. “See what I mean? What I want to know is this: What is your opinion on the matter? You’ve lived in space for years, on the Relay Station, and you’ve had experience beyond anybody I can reach.” “Missing since yesterday morning,” mused Channing. “That means trouble.” “That’s what I thought. Now if you were running the spaceport at Canalopsis, what would your own private opinion be?” “IT don’t know whether I should speak for publication,” said Don. “It won’t be official. I'll corroborate any- thing you say before it is printed, and so on. But I want an unofficial opinion, too. If you comiclooks CO