Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 42 — page 143: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION Kermit lay down. The clamps were on his wrists, on his ankles. Electrodes were being attached to his temples. How could he stop them? How? One man. Alone. Strapped to this table. If he were free... But even free, he was still only one. How could one man have the power to stop them? He saw the answer then. It lay beneath him, buried deep. It and the others he had helped design and build—the atomic piles that furnished light and power and life itself to the underground cities. Kermit could visualise them, so they seemed to be directly before him. All the layers, all the damping rods. If he could control them—— His thought was interrupted as a voice said: ““Now.” It was like being stabbed through the brain. The shock sent his body straining against the clamps that held him. And when it was over he lay with- out strength, feeling the per- spiration drench him. Kermit forced his mind back from the threshold of uncon- sciousness. He had to keep the vision. It was not a question of 142 whether he could control the piles. He must! He must! He saw the damping rods as though they were before his eyes. Inwardly be gathered the strength for the effort he must make. ““Now,’’ Samuels said again. “Now,” Kermit thought. The room went dark. There was no shock. There was only silence. And then voices. “What happened? Some- one turn on the switch again!”’ There was the click of the switch going up and down. Again and again. The room remained pitch dark. Samuel’s voice came through the blackness. door!” There was the sound of the door swinging open. The blackness persisted. Fear stalked the room. ““ENEMY !”’ “There is nO ENEMY,” Ker- mit said. ““Kermit!’? That was Sam- uels. “I might have known. Get him!” There was only the sound of laboured breathing “I—IJ can’t move!” “Don’t be afraid,’ Kermit repeated. “I’ve only shut off the piles.” Samuels said, fright choking him: “You fool. You’ve also “Don’t be afraid.” “Open the — a COMICOOOKS.COn