Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 47 — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

THE DAY OF ALL ELSE story, but which few had the time to discover. Often he would stroll to this window, pull out his chipped and dirty pipe to stuff its ample bowl with tobacco and puff it into a glowing fra- grance. Here he would stand and let his eyes take in the immense distances, savour the beauty of the glittering stars and feel a certain kinship with their loneliness. There used to be a time, many years ago, when he watched from the window only when a new planet rose out of the void. Then he would thrill to the magic of it, as they screamed through a new atmosphere and dropped towards barren plains or gleaming cities. But now he stayed in his seat when they went in to land. Space had shown him beauty and man had shown him ugliness—he preferred beauty. It was as simple as that. At least these were his thoughts as he stood by the window with his pipe clamped comfortably between his teeth and his gnarled hands clasped loosely behind his back. Yet 103 there was a nagging doubt. Was he not getting old? There was the girl for in- stance. Of course it was an hallucination; she couldn’t exist, really. He smiled wryly and rebuked himself for even entertaining any doubt. How could a woman exist in space ? Without a spacesuit! Twice he had seen her, or was it three times? He pon- dered for a moment, remem- bering that they had been two days out from Altair when she had appeared for the first time. Yes, that was it, three — times. Glacing back at the instru- ments, he noted their readings, assured himself that everything was in order before turning again to the glittering vista. She was beautiful. His eyes took on a dreamy look as he built the picture in his mind. In fact she was everything he had ever looked for in a woman. Suddenly he was alert, re- flections gone as the faint sound of music came to him. There it was again. Every time he had seen her there had always been the same music. conmiclooolkks.comn