Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 41 — page 84: what you’re looking at

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

THE BOOGIE MATRIX. “Very clever,” Kratt con- ceded. “Now let’s have a demonstration.” “Right,” said Rondo. He pressed a button on the monitor, and received an an- swering signal on a tiny green pilot light. There was no sound—only a faint hum from the equipment in the annex. “Pope is now reciting,” Rondo said, quietly. ““Watch - the alpha rhythm. As soon as the pips fade, Ill signal him—and then we'll know which is the true situation.” Minutes passed by in silence. Rondo kept glancing at the girl in the chair, illuminated by the flickering glare from the lamp, motionless—tre- signed. She didn’t know what was happening, and she had her eyes closed—but it didn’t - matter. Light of that brilliance went clean through eyelids with no trouble at all. The technician waited by the en- cephalograph, looking bored and uncomfortable—probably he was not enjoying the flicker. Kratt was watching the monitor screen intently, almost holding his breath in eager anticipation. 83 And then the trace changed. Quickly the pips bobbed up and down for a fraction of a second, and then they faded completely, leaving only the clean outline of the alpha rhythm.: Rondo’s finger stabbed on a button. About a second later the pips re- appeared. Kratt smiled in oily satisfaction. “She was a good subject,” Rondo stated. ““And although she doesn’t realise it, she’s told us all we want to know.” Back in the Commander’s office, Kratt studied the pink card which Lieutenant Pope had brought in to him. In concise auto-typed phrases, it summarised the salient details of the true situation—the one which the Weiss-Karnfeld test had identified in a positive manner. Rondo leaned over him, forming an independent opinion. “You see,” Kratt: an- nounced, pointing trium- phantly at the card with a squat forefinger. “Matrix 24 is the key to the whole business.” _ “Yes. Very ingenious,” Rondo remarked. comicloooks.conrn