Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 42 — page 108: what you’re looking at

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

TOP SECRET chromatic beam, which falls on a metal, liberates electrons. They'd be unaffected by the strength of the beam...” “Oh, you mean an Einstein effect ?”’ “Say, Jack, I’ve got it. And very elegant too. What pro- cess do you know which is not affected by temperature, pressure ...?” “Radioactive decay?” “Right, Jack. For an en- gineer you'd make a fine physicist. We'll collect betas emitted by some radioactive element of long half-life time and let them charge a con- denser. When the condenser is charged ... boom.” “Excellent, doctor. But let’s amplify it first so we get enough juice to trip a solenoid or something.” “Can you build me a real compact high-gain amplifier ?”’ “Sure. The hearing-aid people have made millions of them.”’ *“Next problem, please,” said Dr. Martin, his cheeks burning with enthusiasm and fever. Engler pulled a blank sheet out of his pocket and pre- tended to read: “Should Dr. Martin and Mr. Engler have a swim in the Blue Springs 107 Motel pool or have a few beers before dinner ?’’ Dr. Martin answered just as seriously. “‘In reference to your suggestion this writer is of the opinion that one short beer would be in order.” “Let's go.” The Internal Revenue In- vestigator enjoyed this. He put his feet on his desk until the swivel chair under him groaned to a stop. He shifted the telephone hand-piece from his left ear to the right and said with studied casualness: “Yes. And boss, about those TCR 1’s you mentioned. The guy that deposited all that cash is a contractor. Seems he built a small plant or some- thing out here. So I checked with that Burke fellow at the newspaper. Seems it is a government project. Very hush-hush.”’ With a malicious grin, he added: “Do you know of any government agency that pays in cash, boss ?”’ *“No. Only the——” ““Want me to check some more?” *“No, no. Drop the matter, and no reference to it in your typed report. Under- stand ?” comiclooks.corn