Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, Issue 45 — page 103: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION these wanderings in space. And they’d have the farm to “work on. And after they'd been there for a while Mike would just disappear. One day he’d be there, and the next he’d be gone. After all, it wasn’t as though he’d agreed to stay for keeps. Mike hadn’t agreed to that. He’d said that he would give it a try. That was all. If it was explained to Moliy, and one day Mike just wasn’t around any more, it would look natural enough. And then he’d make quite certain that he never left Molly again. And he’d never let another Adaptant within a mile of her. He’d see to that too. They’d work the farm, and maybe have some kids, and they’d live like Mike had never happened. Like none of the whole bad dream had ever happened. And maybe, sometime, the Earth Govern- ment would get a bit of sense, and the Adaptants would be sent right back where they belonged! They could live quite safely then, with no one to trouble them. That was the way it should be. And the plan was working. 102 All that was needed was that deed. He’d thought it all out. There’d be no false moves or slip-ups. Everything would go strictly according to plan. He knew the strip he was planning to farm like the back of his hand. He’d been brought up there. He’d lived there as a boy. That made it easier to explain to Molly. He could just say that he was hankering to get back to the old places. She would believe him. He knew that she would. And on that strip there was a disused mine-shaft. Very deep. The walls were sheer. A spider couldn’t climb them. And with dynamite in the right place, and five tons of cement, nothing that lived could get out of there. Not even an Adaptant. Nothing at all! It had to be timed carefully. Everything had to be at hand when he wanted it. But he could fix all that. He could fix it so that Mike was en- tombed down there. He'd starve to death. Not straight away perhaps. For a while he’d be able to live on the rats and mice that hunted around in that hole. But pretty comiclooks.cormn