Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 41 — page 42: what you’re looking at

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

THE PHOENIX NEST little office behind the recep- tion area. There, sitting at a desk, was a defiant old man with the eyes of a maniac. Strothmeyer squared his shoulders and faced the music. Whatever the old devil had prepared for. him, he would meet it. “Did you wish to see me, Professor?” he said in a calm, chill voice. The figure across the room screamed at him, and so shock- ' ing was its tone that for a moment he did not compre- hend what it was saying. Then the meaning came to him, in a burst of miraculous, golden joy! The angry old man across the room had said the one thing Strothmeyer had never thought to hear—out of all things, the one thing which meant that Strothmeyer had won the battle, that he was this day an immortal, in body, spirit and reputation. By the same strange alchemy which had restored Churchill to new life, a second time, the marauding genius of the dic- _tator had displaced the be- wildered mind of a lesser juggler with men’s souls. Pro- fessor Knaut, confused and 41 ~sick, had abandoned his body to the more robust representa- tive of a now-defunct National Socialist system. The words which had been hurled in accusation at Stroth- meyer by this familiar old man who was now a stranger, were: “You bungling Ameri- can dummkopf! This is worse than ever! When the war is over, Ill have you shot for this gross carelessness!” As Strothmeyer was about to speak, two burly men in white coats rushed past him and began talking soothingly to Hitler-Knaut. “Don’t worry, now, Professor,” they said. “You need some rest, Professor!” They seized his arms and dragged him from the room, looking apologetic- ally at Strothmeyer as they passed him. Hitler-Knaut was now swearing and screaming in German, but no one recog- nised it as such—nor would it have mattered if they had, since, once a man is judged mad, no one pays much atten- tion to his opinions, no matter in what language he expresses them. A member of the University connicloooks.Ccomn)