Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 48 — page 35: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION “Son Takato released from Instruments Division. To pro- ceed with neutraliser project. Use can be made of all avail- able materials, within sanction of Lunar Council. Test model to be completed as soon as possible.” The signature was that of Marshal Takato. “ Well, how are we getting on?” Cha Tabarni asked one day when he came to visit Takato at the pilot plant. Takato’s face was tired and bathed in sweat. He pointed from the odalisium gallery on which. they stood to the pole- like structure of the neutral- ising gear. It stood some seven metres high, and was already festooned with cables. “That’s the heart of the thing, or, if you like, the spine,” said Takato. ‘“‘ We’ve only just started on the rectifiers and the soleno tubes won't be ready for weeks. When she’s finished she'll occupy all this floor space and ‘a bit more besides.” it?” “Bit clumsy, isn’t asked Cha. “It’s only the pilot. The prototype will be a lot sleeker. I haven’t been able to organise the jigs yet. There isn’t a lot of repetition in this section, but I’ll have to put the robots on to templates in a couple of days.” And so the work proceeded. Takato became more and more haggard. Over him hung the prospect of failure. All about him lay its agents : ‘tools which were defective, robots which burned out in the middle of skilled jobs, materials whose properties he had to take on trust. When the pilot model was complete, it was tested. Re- search Centre provided a stratum of radio-activity. The pilot neutraliser made a mag- nificent dent in the stratum in five milliseconds. The con- cavity remained unchanged in volume for almost one- twentieth of an absolute year afterwards. But, in the pro- cess, the neutraliser melted to scrap in a Startling blue glare. Young Constructors, who had come to see the show, comicloooks.com