Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 44 — page 87: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION decontaminate the laboratory, sweeping the projector around like a spotlight. _ [ve had this damned mixed ray projector intermittently switched on and off ever since I started writing. When it’s on the heat is unbearable, and when it is off I am terrified that something will happen to stop me writing. The voltage is beginning to drop too, andI must have some power in _ reserve. There’s just half an hour left to do what is prob- ably the only worthwhile thing I have done in my life. ~ When I arrived here at half-past twelve the coffee pot had boiled half away and I think Peter must have switched it on about nine o’clock. So he could not possibly have been dead for more than three and a half hours, although the prevailing heat makes it very hard to judge. . The brownish pink growth, like a dried and powdery sealing wax, has spread from the edge of his scalp almost down to his left cheekbone, about four inches in two and ~ .three quarter hours. I can see no sign of it on my own face yet, but that’s probably because it doesn’t appear until after death. The worst thing of all is 86 the terrible condition of Peter’s notes. When I first saw the stain under his left hand I cautiously pulled his hand out of the way by turning the most powerful of the portable magnets onto his wrist watch: He had drawn a very shaky diagram of the star virus on the top page of the file. I’ve just looked at it again, and now the stain has spread outwards another inch—but the centre of the triangle is eaten away, and this ghastly thing is steadily devouring its way down through the _ papers underneath! If only I had noticed this earlier I might have been able to do some- thing—it’s too late now. I’ve written on all these sheets in the biggest hand- writing I can do, taking into account the speed at which I’ve had to do it. I know I have enough film left in the camera. I'll take all these pages outside and photo- graph them one at a time, then wind the film back to give some protection to the exposed portions. [ll put a note around the camera and burn a message on it with an electric needle, telling Jack about the vital importance of developing the film for connicloooks. com