Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, Issue 45 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION ting all indignant. This is a problem of your work, and———_”” “The whole basis is physi- cal!’? Carpenter’s face, with its two spots of red, was filled with strain at the knowledge that he must get this idea over right. “There is absolutely no tampering with the mental side of a person’s make-up. In the case of the Mars children, for instance, I’m giving greater lung capacity and a filter system in the nostrils that will more easily be able to cope with this damned dust and sand. But it’s still all based on human stock, still a human - being however some factors are altered. To make a super- being as you suggest, Wheeker, would require definite ap- plications of my experimental work to the mental areas— and, believe me, I’ve left those severely alone.” “Why?” was all that Wheeker said. “Why? Well, perhaps there is some idea that human flesh may with impunity be altered, changed, adapted, what you will. But a person’s mind. No. That’s something else again. I’ve left the mental areas alone, I suppose, because I don’t have the necessary qualifications to make changes there.”’ “You're arguing now from a metaphysical standpoint.” ‘““Maybe. I feel that the world is in a pretty bad shape, as it is. Even the work put into reaching the planets, the at- tempts at colonising them, has not been enough of an outlet, a safety valve, for people’s emotions.” *““But the world is governed by a World State. Ergo, no more wars. Isn’t that what you had in mind?” Carpenter swilled his coffee forgetfully. How could he get over to these men the ideas that had fomented inside him the past twenty years? They were practical, severe men of science. One a doctor. The other, a designer—the first designer of interstellar space- ships. *“What I had in mind,” he said, slowly, at last, “was simply that mankind has been comiclooks.cormn