Astounding Science Fiction (UK Edition) — page 52: what you’re looking at

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

50 the parcel where he had dropped and for- gotten it. There was nothing else to do. And once begun, he forgot his doubts at the fact that it was Kenning’s story, not the original; there was the same sweep to the tale, the same warm and human characters, the same drive of a race that had felt the mastership of destiny so long ago. Small wonder the readers of that time had named it the greatest epic of space to be written! Once he stopped, as the analyzer reached its conclusions and bonged softly, to set the controls on the automatic for the little world that might be his home, with luck. And then the ship moved on, no longer veering, but making the slightly curved path its selectors found most suitable, while Danny read further, huddled over the story in the navigator’s chair, feeling a new and greater kinship with the characters of the story. He was no longer a poor Earth- bound charity case, but a man and an ad- venturer with them! His nerves were tingling with that glow when the tale came to its end, and he let it drop onto the floor from tired fingers. Under his hand, a light had sprung up, but he was oblivious to it, until a crashing gong sounded over him, jerking him from the chair. There had been such a gong described in the story— And the meaning was the same. His eyes made out the red letters that glared accus- ingly from the control panel: RADIA- TION AT TEN O’CLOCK HORIZ. SHIP INDICATED! Danny’s fingers were on the master switch and cutting off all life except pseudo- gravity from the ship as the thought pene- trated. The other ship was not hard to find from the observation window; the great streak of an invert-matter rocket glowed hotly out there, pointed apparently back to Earth—probably the Callistan! For a second he was sure they had spotted him, but the flicker must have been only a minor correction to adjust for some small error, for the trail continued. He had no knowledge of the new ships and whether they carried warning signals or not, but apparently they must have dispensed with such things. The streak vanished into the distance, and the letters on the panel that had marked its changing position went dead. Danny waited until the fullest am- plification showed fto response’ before throwing power on again. The small glow of the ion rocket would be invisible at the distance, surely. ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION Nothing further seemed to occur; there was a contented purr from the pilot and the faint sleepy hum of raw power from the rear, but no bells or sudden sounds. Slowly, his head fell forward over the navigator’s table; and his heavy breathing mixed with the low sounds of the room. The ship went on about its business as it had been designed to do. Its course was charted, even to the old landing sweep, and it needed no further attention. That was proved when the slow: ringing of a bell woke Danny, while the board blinked in time to it: Destination! Destina- tion! Destination! He shut off everything, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and looked out. Above, there was weak but warm sunlight streaming down from a bluish sky that held a few smail clouds suspended close to the ground. Beyond the ship, where it lay on a neglected sandy landing field, was the green of grass and the wild profusion of a forest. The horizon dropped off sharply, reminding him that it was only a tiny world, but otherwise it might have been Earth. He spotted an unkempt hangar ahead and applied weak power to the underjets, testing until they moved the ship slowly forward and inside, out of the view of any above. Then he was at the lock, fumbling with the switch. As it opened, he could smell the clean fragrance of growing things, and there was the sound of birds nearby. A rabbit hopped leisurely out from underfoot as he stumbled eagerly out to the sunlight, and weeds and underbrush were already spreading to cover the buildings about him. For a moment, he sighed; it had been too easy, this discovery of heaven on the first wild try. But the sight of the buildings drove back the doubt. Once, surrounded by a pre- tentious formal garden, there had been a great stone mansion, now falling into ruins. Beside it and further from him, a smaller house had been built, seemingly from the wreckage. That was still whole, though ivy had grown over it and half covered the door that came open at the touch of his fingers. | There was still a faint glow to the heaters that drew power from the great atomic plant that gave this little world a perpetual semblance of Earthliness, but a coating of dust was everywhere. The _ furnishings, though, were in good condition. He scanned over them, recognizing some as similar to the pieces in the Museum, and the products comicbooao S (©