Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 41 — page 89: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION “Looks as though someone has slipped up, Rondo re- marked. Kratt said nothing: but his hand moved leisurely to the pocket of his tunic. He with- drewit with incredible rapidity, and pointed a small, glittering pistol at Rondo. But the latter had moved too. Even as Kratt’s arms tensed for the recoil of the weapon, Rondo had fired through his pocket. There was no “explosion— only a quiet “phut.” Kratt’s chest seemed to open up into a crimson crater as the ex- pansion slug buried itself in his lungs. He collapsed, with- out a murmur, spreading blood over the desk and the carpet. *“Nice work, Major,” said Soliki with enthusiasm. “But that places you in a spot.” Rondo smiled grimly. “It had to come sooner or later. Tonight was bound to bring a showdown.” Zora turned to Karl with wide, uncomprehending eyes. “T don’t understand. What goes on?” “It’s all right, darling. Rondo is one of us. He’s one of the few Reversionists we’ve 88 got working inside the Bureau.” She closed her eyes—a gesture of relief. “I would never have imagined...” she began, but the videophone buzzer interrupted her. Rondo pressed the switch, making sure that no sign of Kratt or his blood was within the angle of the monitor tube. The familiar face of the Director of Radio and Video Services materialised on the blank screen. “Is Commander Kratt there?” asked the Director. “No, I guess not. He went out a few minutes ago,” Rondo replied, blandly. ““What’s the trouble?’ “It’s about Matrix 24 and the arrest of Bax Borden. We're getting thousands of protests from people all over the world. They’re demanding his release. They are demand- ing a repeat of the pre-Inferno music. All the videophone channels are jammed by in- coming calls.” Rondo grinned. “Good,” he said. “‘That’s the reaction we expected.” “But what am I supposed comiclooks.conn