Authentic Science Fiction, No. 23 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

2B) THE SINGING SPHERES eventual landing on Kardoon, I found myself sweating more than ever. Incredulity pulsed strongly. “From another world?” I felt my heart-beat quicken. “And you come in peace?” Yes, I said, we came in peace. “Will you be able to help us—?” “If it lies within our power.” I switched off, trembling with the effort and with the wonder of it all. Professor Mattus’s machine had done the trick again. Hartnell and Tubby saw me lower the rod. “No luck, Pop?” _ “Oh, yes, it’s worked all right. It seems we’ve got a rescue job on our hands—” “Makes a nice change, anyway,” said young Hartnell. “As a rulé they’re only too anxious to see the back of us.” _ When my breath returned I made another attempt. Fuzzy- bubble waited patiently, suspended some four feet from the ground, while his friends twinkled unmovingly on the rocks. ‘ ay did you keep us out of the valley?” I asked. “And Ow: The answer to the second question didn’t make me much wiser. I caught something about “force-beams” that made me raise my eyebrows, but the rest was incomprehensible. We had been barred from passing, apparently, because there lay entrance to what was described as “all that is left to us- from bygone glories—our single legacy bequeathed by the Wise Ones who passed over in the Day of Cataclysm.” “There, too, said the sphere, with profound sorrow, “rests cae a nursery of our species. Alas, they are now pitifully ew!” CHAPTER FOUR The Nursery HILE we walked once more towards that irregular gap between the high cliffs I saw four of the waiting spheres detach themselves and float quickly ahead of us, while Fuzzy- bubble and the others acted as escort. Unhindered now, we moved into the rocky cleft, only to — find a steep, rough declivity, down which we stumbled and slid with considerable discomfort. It struck me as uncanny that for untold centuries the spheres had been using this path- way, yet the loose shale remained untrodden. I couldn’t get used to the idea of things moving about the place without leaving tracks, and it wasn’t particularly pleasing to see them travelling effortlessly alongside while we staggered across a rugged terrain. The narrow defile became a winding canyon, flanked by precipices of such terrifying height that they shut much light from the lower slopes, yet eventually we emerged into another wide plain fully four miles across. In the mouth of the gorge, where going was easier, we hesitated, not knowing which direction to take. Above the whistling which persisted in our inter-coms, Hartnell and Tubby must have heard my exclamation of alarm before they themselves were affected. Something caught hoid and swung me gently but firmly to the right, almost making me lose balance. It was like being guided and half-lifted by invisible cushions—a quite different sensation from the gravity- reactors, where pressure manifests itself on the harness. “Galloping galaxies!” exclaimed Hartnell. “Now we know . what Fuzzy-bubble means about force-beams!” “But—but how can they do it?” | He shrugged, taking matters more calmly thanI did. “You work the Mattus, Pop. Why not ask ’em?” Irritated, Tubby said: “And if they're the cause of this confounded ringing noise, ask ’em to stop it.” When I held the rod towards the purplish sphere and switched on again there was no doubt about Fuzzy-bubble’s in- telligence. He grasped the idea straightaway, and communi- cation became easier, as it usually did when the parties con- cerned grew more attuned. * ‘[Gomicbooks.com