Authentic Science Fiction, December 1951 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

8 THE MOON IS HEAVEN ““ We're all scared. Don’t let that' worry you, either. . I wouldn’t want anyone on this trip who wasn’t a bit scared. Wouldn’t react right in emergency.”’ -“* So you reckon there’ll be emergencies?” He sets the cup down. It’s too hot. ‘‘ Bound to be. You can’t do a thing like this and demand that everything go according to plan. But we can handle all the minor things that might go wrong—so long as we act quickly enough.”’ “And the major things? Can we handle those?’’ , Atah stares through the window. You reckon that from where he’s sitting he can just see the tip of the rocket’s nose. He stares at it for a few moments, then looks back at you and smiles. “Some of them. Most of them that might occur on the trip. But there are one or two things we expect to find on the Moon that may not be there. The emergencies might come long after we’ve landed safely.’’ And they’ll go on, you think. Right until we get back here on Earth, or make some corner of a lunar crater a little piece of England with our bodies laid in a row. But that certainly doesn’t worry you. You don’t care where you die, : Moon or Earth. It’s just that you don’t want to die. You take the typescript from your pocket and slide it across the table to Atah. ‘‘ I’ve told them that a tube blew on us,’’ you say. ‘‘ And pointed out that we should be space-borne in about three weeks.’ Atah looks up. His untidy hair hangs a bit over his fore- head, making him appear very much like a schoolboy who’s more interested in things than appearances. Which is prob- ably just about right. : ““T don’t know that we ought to tell ’em that last bit,”’ he says. ‘“‘ Ii’ll be the first concrete date we’ve given for departure. They’ll swarm out here like flies. Clutter up the place.”’ ’ It’s your turn to grin. ‘‘ The whole truth?’’ you snuile. ““Isn’t that what you wanted?’’ comicbooks.com