Authentic Science Fiction, December 1951 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

THE MOON IS HEAVEN 17 “ But, mademoiselle! How can you? ‘You say you fly wiz us, but what of the fuel, the weight? You are petite, yes, but still you are an object for consideration in that respect.’’ : ; ‘© T don’t know whether to blush or to be angry,’ Reina replied. ‘‘ Maybe I won’t do either of those things. There are very good reasons why I Should come to the Moon with you. Atah and I have discussed them and he has decided that I am right. He is making a small adjustment in the amount of equipment we are carrying.’ The technologist, Schnabel, didn’t like that. ‘‘ Zo! Vee are to do wizout things, eh? Just zo Reina comes to the Moon, eh? And vat if we leave somzing zat is important? What happens then?’’ Just like Schnabel, you thought. He’s the only onc of thu crew who tries to stand on his dignity, tries to find fault with other people’s decisions. You reckon if there’s going to be any ‘‘ human relations ’’ trouble on the Moon, it’ll come from Schnabel. Atah wasn’t coughing any more. His lips were set and he was looking at Schnabel. It suddenly struck you that the technologist had made a criticism of Atah’s judgment, his wisdom in adjusting the equipment to compensate for Reina’s weight. It amounted almost to an accusation of jeopardising everyone’s safety. Risking the success of the project. If it had been you, you might have stormed and ranted at Schnabel, telling him what kind of person he is. But it wasn’t you. It was Atah. He spoke calmly. “ We are not doing without anything, Schnabel. To com- pensate for Reina’s weight, I have simply transposed a few pieces of equipment from the manned rocket to the un- manned follow-ups. I had already allowed for one of them to be under-weight to meet just such an emergency as this. We have all been working on this project for years. I am not likely to leave behind essential things.” Schnabel just grunted and turned away—his usual reaction when ptoved wrong. Then Leeson, the American pilot, put comicbooks.com