Authentic Science Fiction, December 1951 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

THE MOON IS HEAVEN 15 Linell, on behalf of the whole Circle, presented Atah with a chronometer that had been subscribed for by the Circle. Atah hadn’t known quite what to do. He’d just stood there with the gleaming instrument in his hands, looking from it to the ring of smiling faces and back again. Then he’d led them all off to the rocket and let them all come in by fours and watch him installing the chronometer in the control room. Then they’d carried him back to the refectory and made him drink ten glasses of orangeade in quick succession, You’d stood ‘by, watching it happen, wondering how- many other world-experts on anything could be treated—and want to be treated—like this. There was something about space flight. And something about Atah. The whole thing had been a high-spot in the dreary work of the project, something that made everybody forget the heat and weariness and the dull aching boredom of doing routine jobs. And then it was all over and everybody went back to normal. You yourself managed to get another two chapters finished of the book about it all. Even as you were writing them, you couldn’t help hoping you’d put the final chapters in yourself when you'd all got back to Earth. The sultry days had passed. Things had got nearer and nearer to finality. Tension began to mount. A few people even got jittery and irritable, but Atah’s sense of humour kept things going happily for almost everyone. And then you’d got the shock of your life. Even now the thought of it makes you wobble as you pull on a sock, so that you have to sit down on the edge of the bed. For days you’d puzzled about Reina’s remarks to you about finding out something, but you just couldn’t get it. You knew it was something to do with not being able to send her a post-card or a stick of moon-rock, but that was all. For a frantic moment, you thought that maybe they’d decided not to let you go up with them after all. But that wasn’t so. You’d tackled Atah about it and he’d thought you were slightly mad. But then, he always had. comicbooks.com