Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 47 — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

aes tf ene ‘et , = ae we ee : . é %, ot ® iy Ve! ~ ee Bh pines AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION gradual de-trancing, as it were, and the subject is given more time to grasp the unpleasant truth and to com- prehend the effect it must have upon his now reduced ex- pectation of life. Naturally, he is appalled at what he learns. He is literally gruesome to behoid. Every emotion turns to hatred and bitterness. Then we focus that hatred upon our enemies, de-sex the subject, store him in one of the crew- rooms in a drug-induced coma until such time as he is re- quired for flying, and give him a number. It is really only military service taken a step further. The inocula- tions and drug tests, the blind obedience to unreasonable commands, the guinea-pig gas researchers, the suicidal duties—remember? That, my dear fellow, is as far as we had got two years ago. I expect you wonder how far _ we have got now!” *“Nghhh,”’ I said. His eyes fascinated me. “Nghh... now...nnnow?” “Ah, now,’ Kersch re- peated. ““Now we are about to produce the Mark XV Mu- tilant. It will be many stages 60 beyond what you have seen today, and we anticipate for it complete freedom from blackout at over sixty gs. The thing—one can hardly give it human identity—will be in constant agony, I am afraid, as a result of the eighty-three surgical operations that must be performed upon it, and its carefully directed hatred will exceed in concentrated -intensity any emotion ever before contained by a single, human mind. The operations involve removal of all re- dundant tissue and of un- necessary bone and muscle; the shortening and bye- passing of arteries and veins. Digestive organs are dis- carded, and therapy, together with fluid injection, will re- place pre-transmogrification methods of energy intake. I tell you, not only will the Mark XV Mutilant mark the beginning of a new, surgically evolved race, but he will be scarcely recognisable as a humanoid at all.” His eyes ablaze now with fanaticism, Kersch could hardly control the twitching of his face. ““We are about to begin on him now,” he whis- comiclooks.conrn