Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 42 — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

ie oe 8 Aca! ‘ ag i : F aim “And how long did you say your husband’s been missing, Mrs.—er—Novotny ?” “Since last night?” “He left work as usual but didn’t get home. That right? And he’s not at work today ?” “‘What’s he do for a living?” “Tool and die maker, huh?”’ “Did you—er—did you have any kind of an argument with him before he left yester- day morning?” “And he doesn’t drink much, huh?’ “Ever stay away a night before?” “Well, don’t worry, lady. We'll check all around. If you don’t hear from us by tonight, drop in tomorrow and bring a recent photo- graph. He’s probably all right.’ “Yes, lady, I know one away . soon as. Pll let you . Just as Jack Engler pushed away the parallel arms of the drafting machine. It was only two thirty in the afternoon but he felt he had done enough for the lousy salary they paid him. He opened the Journal of Electrical Engineering, which had arrived that morning. His concentration was dis- turbed by a big, black fly 163 TOP SECRET dive-bombing in front of him. On the third dive he disposed of the pest with a smart back-hand swipe of his slide- rule. Then he cleaned up the slide-rule on the company towel and went back to his Journal. The articles bored him. He flipped pages until he came to the Situations Vacant col- umns. Defence Project... Government Laboratory... Aircraft Factory... Always the same, he thought, .bitterly. Just be- cause he’d joined some silly front organisation ten years ago, he had to design limit switches for slot machines, instead of doing an engineer’s job. Damn the F.B.].! Then he saw the ad which seemed to be just written for him: U.S. Citizenship not re- quired... The grey Dodge coupé stopped in front of the Gazette’s dusty offices. Burke, editor, advertising salesman and make-up man, watched the passenger alight, pick up his brief-case and put a nickel in the slot on the parking meter. When he saw the stranger head for the Gazette door he figured comicloooks.conm