Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 42 — page 141: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION ing that he was one of US. Begging Father to save him. And then it was over. Or was it only a longer interval? No, it was over. Father’s voice filled the room with compassion. “You mustn’t hurt him.” There was a lapse of time. He remembered only Father’s voice, soft and kindly. It came to him often and made him feel safe. Another lapse of time, with no voice. Only men who came to take his pulse and listen to his heart beating. And then his mind cleared. At least a week altogether, Kermit reasoned. There were large scabs on his upper arms. There were bruises which must have been welts a few days earlier. His body still ached in every muscle and joint when he moved. Therefore, the time must have been about a week. That day when the men with the stethoscopes and bau- manometers came they checked him and nodded their heads with satisfaction. Ap- parently he was getting better. That was good. Or was it? Maybe he would soon be well enough to torture again! The thought made 140 ™7~, mill Kermit ill. How soon would they be coming for him? The next footsteps in the corridor might be the heavy ones. The — next hands would carry no ste- thoscopes—only truncheons. But no. He sighed with re- lief. He'd forgotten. Father had stopped them. Father wouldn’t let them—— Around Kermit the room whirled and tipped. So thatwas it! This was re-education! Now he understood the process. Torture—and allthe time the discussion going on, the talk about such things not happening to one of us. The talk about Father protecting us. And then, when his body could take no more, the voice of Father. Kind Father, pro- i ; tecting Father. It would go on and on, with the intervals perhaps growing shorter. Until ENEMY came to represent pain and degrada- tion. Until us represented kindness and safety. Until ie Father was all that Father was supposed to mean. | Until his reflexes were so — conditioned that he could not conceivably have any others. Until he were considered safe. Until he could work on the post-cortical wave for them, with no room for doubt in his mind. ; comichooks.comn Ate : : ie