Authentic Science Fiction, December 1951 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

18 THE MOON tS HRAVEN a word in—a quite, reasoning word as suited his tempera- ment. “‘T guess we don’t quarrel with your judgment, Atah. Most of us know you don’t take chances like that. But— er—it’d be nice to know why you changed your mind about having women on the trip—mind you, J’m all for it!”’ Reina got up from the table and began to move towards the door. Atah watched her with a slight smile on his face. ‘ Reina’s quite a capable technician, I’ve discovered. And she can cook and sew and—well, I think she’d be useful on the Moon.”’ The girl flashed him a grateful glance and slipped through the door. When she’d gone, Atah lowered his voice. ‘‘ Now listen. chaps. That’s not the only reason Reina’s coming. There’s a bigger, better one. But you’ve all got to keep your mouths shut about it and not let on to her that you know a thing. Just have some regard for her feelings.” You were as interested as anyone, and this business made you impatient. ‘‘ Okay, Atah, we'll do that. But what’s this big reason?”’ “Well. As you know, we've got to make our own return fuel. To do that we’re assuming certain things about the Moon’s composition. We may be wrong. If we are, then we may have to stay on the Moon a heck of a long time. We may never get back to Earth; you all know and accept that possibility. : ‘‘Reina’s a queer girl. She’s got her own ideas about things and people. Down here she fits into the codes be- cause it’s convenient. Up on the Moon there aren’t any. codes. And she reckons we’ll be lonely if we can’t get back. That’s why she’s coming. It’s a great thing for her to do— even I see that. Let’s respect her for it.’’ There was a slightly awkward pause while the information sank into everybody’s heads. You felt a touch of nausea, feeling the way you do about Reina. And then the nausea was replaced by a burning rage as Schnabel let out a coarse guffaw. You stepped across to strike him, but he was up comicbooks.com