Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 42 — page 107: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION with him for only ten days. So far nothing suspicious to report. ‘J have only been here two days, but I think the boss’s hunch was wrong: it’s an engineering job. There has been no mail coming in or going out that I could see. “The place is wonderful, but my work is very dull. Today I spent a whole day figuring out Air-Express schedules and how long a parcel would take to reach every large city in the U.S.A. and even allowing for the time from the airport to the City’s centre. “T’ll try to get a lift into town (ten miles from here). tomorrow to mail this letter. “T’ll write again when I have some news. Hilde. “P.S.—The swimming pool is wonderful.” Engler burst into the cabin. “I’m sorry. Nobody told me you had arrived, Dr. Martin.” They shook hands. “And forget the ‘doctor’; it’s Ernie.” “I’m Jack.” “When do we start work, Jack ?” “Right now if you like, Ernie,’ Engler said and pro- duced a long, brown envelope 106 addressed to Dr. Ernest Mar- tin and Mr. Jack Engler. It contained a single sheet of thin, white paper, foolscap size: sak Project 739 | DrEM—JE/ Ass 1 Wanted: compact design of noiseless, accurate (plus, minus three minutes per 24 hours) mechanism to trigger electrical or mechan- ical action any time within three to forty-eight hours. Must be unaffected by tem- perature changes between — 20° C. and +50° C. and normal fiying conditions, including handling at load- ing and discharging ter- minals. “That shouldn’t be too difficult. Of course, clock- works are out because of noise,’ said Engler. “The way I see it they want some sort of a_ time-fuse, which...” *“How about some chemical . reaction ?”’ Engler broke in. “No. It'd be hard to find a reaction unaffected by such a wide temperature range.” “Batteries are out—they’d drop off too much in forty- eight hours,”’ said the engineer. *“You have something there though,” said Martin. “Let a battery supply a mono- comichooks.corm ;