Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 46 — page 108: what you’re looking at

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

PSYCHIC TWIN Peinture’s voice sounded dis- tant and hollow, drawing him back from the edge of obli- vion, repeating: “You are back at the time twenty minutes before the canteen incident...” Automatically Bridger be- gan to recount his experiences in the present tense. “I look up at the wall clock. Thank heaven—it’s ten to one. What a hell of a job for a man of my experience—testing the efficiency of experimental sili- con lubricants. Suddenly I realise that something in the atmosphere of the room has changed. The hum of the test motor that has been grating on my nerves all morning is missing. I don’t remember hearing any dying whine as it stopped. Strange ... it couldn’t just cut out and halt as abruptly as that. *T walk over and pull out the power fuse—nothing wrong there. I replace it. Per- haps the mains have gone dead. I test, but the supply is O.K. The fault must lie in the motor itself. I put my left hand on the main shaft which pro- jects from the side of the motor and lean over to check the connection of the power lead. No fault there. I straighten up and move a pace 107 backwards, looking at the motor. “Then it hits me that the needle of the revolution coun- ter is way over, as if the motor were still working. I look at my left hand, and then more closely-at the shaft. It is, in fact, in motion, although the stroboscopic effect makes the revolution difficult to detect. I switch off the power, but the reading on the dial remains constant and there is still no sound. “This set of anomalies gives my mind such a wrench that I wonder if I’m beginning to crack up again. I just stand there watching the motor... What am I to do? If I call Glassberg he won’t believe me—hell! I wouldn’t believe it myself if I couldn’t see it. He’ll think I’m going round the bend again—that will make the fat slob happy. “Then suddenly, like a soundproof door opening, the hum of the motor fills the room. It descends in pitch swiftly and ceases, as it normally does when the power is shut off. I jerk the switch on and it begins to pick up speed again. I switch off... . I still can’t take my eyes off the motor, but this time it behaves normally. comiclbooks.conn