Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 41 — page 75: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION The temperature was frigid. _ Expansion pipes under the flooring sapped the warmth from the air and from her body; a white mist of conden- sation formed every time she breathed. There was no fur- niture—only the floor to lie on, with a surface temperature below freezing. The air in that confined space was vibrating continu- ally at a supersonic fre- quency, beyond the range of audibility, but nevertheless blasting its way into her brain, creating tension, neurotic headache, and a terrifying awareness Of approaching in- sanity. On top of all this, a recorded voice talked in- cessantly in cultured, plausible accents, presenting a highly coloured picture of the virtues of the technocrat state, and outlining a much-edited ver- sion of recent history. The voice was peculiarly insistent. Coupled with the supersonic tone, it seemed to reverberate and circulate in her head, until she felt as though she were not a human being at all, but some kind of soulless robot. “Science is the outward sym- bol of man’s superiority over lots 74 the beast,” said the voice. “It is the material product of human reason and intellect. But it must be used—not abused. History has shown only too clearly the disastrous and evil consequences of the abuse ofscience; the succession. of wars, growing ever more technical, and always in- corporating the latest develop- ments in scientific research, culminating in the Inferno— that holocaust of uncontrolled atomic destruction which, a mere three generations ago, wiped out more than ninety per cent. of the earth’s popu- lation, and destroyed virtually every vestige of culture and civilisation. “The high pinnacles of achievement to which we haye attained since that catastrophe bear witness to the miracles which can be achieved by the proper application of science, and the forces of science. Since the technocrats have ruled the earth, man has emerged from the dark aftermath of the In- ferno, and has climbed to a level of culture and progress hitherto unknown on. this. planet. Under the benevolent rule of the technocrats, man comicloooks.comnn