Astounding Science Fiction (UK Edition) — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

BLIND MAN’S BUFF 3 the Earth and the planet of their destina- tion. Shortly they would arrive at the point ten diameters distant from Venus, and that was where the take-off would be. After that it would be a free-for-all scramble for the honor—and untold riches—of being the first man down. Most of the ships carried the yellow-and- blue markings of the newly formed Venusian Land Development Co., the Far- rington-Driscoll ‘enterprise. Buck Turner’s rusty old tub floated somewhere on the far side of the circle. Nearby were two crazily converted yachts manned by adventure- struck college kids. A quadrant away. there were several other independent entries, all of an impractical nature. One was a man who fondly held the theory that the only way to tear away the deadly veil of Venus was to take actual soundings with wire drags and then drop kite baloons with moorings. His idea was to plant buoys, so to speak, to mark the more dangerous crags. Another was a fellow who claimed to be an expert meteorologist, and whose ship was fitted with bins containing colored flours. By dumping those on the Venusian cirrus he hoped to make stains whose motions he could study. By charting the general circul- ation of the upper air and noting the presence of updrafts and eddies, he hoped to deduce the locations of the hazards below. Travis and Hartley's own hope was ‘pinned on magnar—the Maggy, as they pre- ferred to call it—a squat machine that em- bodied all the virtues of super-radar plus, but inverted. Where old-style radio used oscillating electric currents to generate magnetic waves, magnar operated on re- verse principles. Surges of magnetrons set up electric strains which reacted from the surroundings. The results were incomparably more satisfactory than with standard elec- tronic eq'inment since it was penetrative and analytic as well. But marvelous as the instrument was in its tests under terrestrial conditions, its behavior on Venus was yet to be ascertained. Curious magnetic pheno- mena had been observed there, due prob- ably to the proximity to the fierce radiation of the sun. Auroras were encountered at all latitudes, and there was known to be a low belt practically opaque to all but long waves. But for better or for worse, they intended to depend on their device to get them safely down, and for the later com- plying with the strict rules laid down by the Bureau of Genomics in the staking out of their claim. A gong struck warningly, and Lorimer came to life. _ “It’s the standby signal,” he said, and cut in the loudspeaker. “All ships, attention,’ boomed the voice of the chief umpire. “In five minutes we will arrive at the take-off point. See that you are not ahead of the station or you will be disqualified. Everyone listen carefully while I refresh you on the rules. Ships will go in with open mikes, so that I can keep track of your whereabouts. Upon making your planetfall you are to ground your ship where it may be, leaving the assistant um- pire on board for communication purposes. Set up a radio beacon at once so that if necessary I can visit you to check up. After that you are free to explore the territory about you.” | There was a pause for acknowledgments up to that point. Travis nodded. He knew the rules. The signals came through loud and clear. Violent earthquakes and torrents of boiling volcanic mud falling as rain drove him away shortly after he landed, but the beacon he left behind served long enough to allow him to regain the stratosphere safely. It ceased sending within the hour, indicating that subsequent earthquakes had destroyed it, but it showed what was pos- sible. “After your reconnaissance,” went on the voice from the cruiser, “you should then stake out your claims.. Vague descriptions, wooden stakes, blazes on trees, or loosely piled stone cairns will not do. There was too much litigation arising from the care- less early surveying of ,Mars. Good topo- graphic maps must be submitted, tracts described by metes and bounds, and the corners tied to salient landmarks. If pos- sible, the survey should be tied to the planetary grid. In cases of conflict, title will be awarded to the most accurately mapped claim.” “Imagine that!” sniffed: Hartley. “Expect- ing good topography in a dense fog. It’s a good thing we have the Maggy.” Travis was silent. He was wondering how those clauses happened to be in the condi- tions. Could it be that Driscoll had a hand in it, knowing their meaninglessness but having devised some way to beat the game? For the term planetary gril implied either a previous triangulation survey or the es- tablishment of circles of latitude and longi- tude, a manifest impossibility in view of the record. Perhaps Driscoll meant to per- form such a survey. He had an army of comiclooks ©