Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 41 — page 92: what you’re looking at

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

THE BOOGIE MATRIX ° in desperation. Three uni- formed figures were bearing down on him with measured determination, pistols at the ready. There was no escape that way, and the other end of the corridor was a blank wall. The only possibility of getting out alive lay in going through the flames and smoke of the blazing Index Room and jumping through the window—a drop of four storeys to the ground. It was ' a fifty-fifty chance—perhaps less than that—but there was no other alternative. Swiftly he ducked into the pungent fog, and found him- self confronted by a barrier of flame. The fire had spread —and it seemed as though everything in the room was burning fiercely. For a mo- ment he hesitated, debating the best route through the fire, and in the same instant the door crashed open. Rondo knew then that the end was near. He turned and fired simultaneously, dropping one of the guards with the first shot. The other two fired to- gether. One expansion slug hit Rondo in the stomach, almost cutting his body into 91 two separate halves; the other struck him full in the face, shattering his head into cling- ing fragments. There was no pain, no final thought, no awareness of death—he simply ceased to exist. Karl Soliki and Zora found themselves with plenty of work to do at Reversionist Headquarters. Coded reports were coming in from all parts of the continent and the world, providing valuable statistics that gave an en- couraging picture of the pro- gress of the civil war. Shkargo had fallen to the Reversion- ists, and a number of other important centres were already in rebel hands. The final gesture of defiance remained to be accomplished. It happened right on schedule. From the windows of the room they saw the night sky of Nyok burst into incandescent whiteness, slowly fading to angry orange and then crimson. The shock wave came seconds later—a titanic shuddering of the air and the ground that smashed windows in a vast circle. The Citadel had vanished; only conmicloooks.Ccomn