Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 47 — page 95: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION eapacity only, Michael. I’m to be a judge at this adoles- cent tournament, to see that your father’s robot doesn’t hide any knights up his sleeve.” The study of the Hobbs home was crowded. Officials and selected members of the local chess club, the editors of a chess magazine, photogra- phers and a wire service reporter were waiting for the mechanical battle to begin. It promised to be a short -contest, as chess went, because the robots would be playing with clockwork precision, moving their pieces almost instantaneously on the basis of their stored-up knowledge of the complicated game. A tele- vision camera was trained on the board and the empty chairs at the table, and a motion picture camera was ready to record the game and project it later in slow motion so it could be studied by slower human minds. “Carol,” said Mike, “‘please take back the ring.’ He was talking to her in a quiet corner of the room. “It’s been lonely without you. Let’s forget that silly quarrel. 94 I love you, Carol. Don’t you love me?” “The man I loved was a considerate, intelligent man who was going to marry me and move into a house of our own. He wasn’t the man who let the bits and pieces of the house gather dust in a barn while he spent all the money on a robot. I don’t see how we can live in a barn, with a house all in pieces.”’ “We'll have that money again. I’ve already saved a lot toward it and in another few months we'll have enough.” “Another few months! Maybe in that time you'll be able to find another girl. It won’t be me—you robot fan- cier!’’ She tilted up her nose and walked into the hubbub at the centre of the room. The wire service reporter was talking to Mike’s father. *“As I understand it, Mr. Hobbs, neither robot has played against anyone but his master—the so-called Morphy against Mr. Mercer and Capa- blanca against you?” *“That’s correct. In addition, the robots have not been allowed to read any books on comicloooks.conn