Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, Issue 45 — page 81: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION sneered at because I looked after my own?” “Did you? Pll admit that you looked after your own skin, but why didn’t you do more?” George thinned his lips. “If you were so certain that atomic bombs would be dropped on London why didn’t you do something about it? I don’t mean something like this hidey hole of yours, this private nest where you could run to save your own hide, but something to save others’ skins, maybe even something to prevent the war happening at all.” “What could I have done?” ““You’re a member of the government and you must have known what was going on. Did you do anything about it? Did you stand up and protest, appeal, work for the poor devils who voted you into power? No. You just sat and followed the leaders of your party like a well-trained dog, and ail the time you knew that, no matter what happened, your own gréasy hide would be safe. Am I sup- posed to be proud of you for that ?” , YOU ots *“You don’t like me do you, Harrigan ?’”’ George shrugged. “Well, that makes us even, because I hate your guts. But you married my sister, and for her sake I’ve kept quiet about how I feel. I’ll continue to keep quiet, but I can’t stand any more of your slimy self- satisfaction at what you’ve done. Personally I’d rather have gone out with the rest than grab a bit more life the way you've done.” “You would,” sneered Jeff. ““You made such a success of your life, didn’t you?” **I was a waster,” admitted George, calmly. “But I hurt no one and, if I didn’t live as I should, then I could have died as I ought.” “Then why the hell didn’t you? Who asked you to come here in the first place?” “*No one.” ‘Then why did you come at all?” “I was afraid,”’ said George, slowly. ““You should know how I felt; you’ve lived with it for years now. Fear. Fear born of a little knowledge, of knowing what would happen should the bombs fall, and yet denying that they could fall at comiclooks.cormn