Authentic Science Fiction, December 1951 — page 43: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER FIVE Beginnings The thin steel sheets that were housed close to the rocket’s hull don’t take long to set up. The fifteen of them are quickly assembled in. the shape of.a hemisphere, the actual sealing up job done by Schnabel.. You watch him as he cuts the groove for the base with a small oxywelder, the rock turning to a sluggish lava and then solidifying round the base of the steel sections as Clavier gently lowers them down. Making a nice, air-tight fit. The man knows his job all right, Then he climbs the rungs on each section and gets the welder to work on the seams, sweeping it down in long, easy Arcs, using up a couple of dozen rods to fill the cracks. While he does that, Clavier goes off and scrambles up the lower parts of the mountain. Soon he disappears down a crack. He is looking for snow. Reina and Leeson arrange the oxygen bottles that’ll give the dome its first atmosphere. They link them up with alitubing and connect a manometer to the common duct that will be pushed into the dome. Atah Kark is busying himself with the rest of the equipment, Checking its efficiency, seeing if the jolt damaged it at all. _ You just make accurate notes of all that’s going on. Partly or the sake of the archives and partly for those who come ter. There may not be anyone alive to tell them the story. Your job is to make sure that every pitfall, every difficulty recorded in full detail. Atah thinks that’s essential. ‘Suddenly Atah’s voice comes over the radio. ‘‘ Here’s he first trailer !’’ You all swing round and follow his pointing hand. Way p in the sky there is a moving dot. It’s the time-controlled 41 comicbooks.com