Authentic Science Fiction, December 1951 — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

THE MOON IS HEAVEN 91 for so big a man. Of course! It’s the Moon’s lesser gravity. You seem to be slightly out of touch with things at the moment. Maybe that’s because you never killed a man before... . It’s a funny thing, but. you find yourself being terribly gentle with Schnabel’s body as you lower it down the rocks. You know full well that he’s dead and that a #ew knocks won’t hurt him, ‘Yet somehow you find it so difficult to let the. carcass fall even a few feet while you climb down after it. You have to do so, of course, otherwise you’d never get down, but it sends a queasy feeling of indecency through you. In fact, you are highly relieved apart from the exertion, when you reach the plain. You don’t mind dragging the body because you have the excuse that your helmet is too big to allow him to be thrown over your shoulder, And you’re not too keen on having him that near you, anyway. -At the air-lock, you press the button that sounds a buzzer telling you that the inner door is closed. Then you open the outer door and start to drag Schnabel inside. But suddenly you reckon there’s no sense in doing that. He might just as well stay out here. You lay him down by the door, in the shade of the equipment, He’ll keep quite cool that way. Then you go into the air-lock and through into the dome. They must have heard the buzz, for they all stand and watch the air-lock expectantly. Even when you’ve stepped out of it, they continue to stare for a moment or two. Then they turn to you. Atah raises his eyebrows and says something. But you are fiddling with your suit and can’t hear him. Leeson comes over and helps you off with it, casting meaning looks at the dust all over it. When you've got the suit off, a cup of steaming tea comes into view. You take it and flop down onto a bunk, giving Reina a grateful glance as you do so. Then you look up at Atah Kark. ‘‘ What was that?”’ you ask. ‘I didn’t hear before.’’ “T just wanted to know what had happened,’’ Atah comicbooks.com