Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 48 — page 42: what you’re looking at

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

TABARNI DOCUMENT beings, unite with us. Help us to bring dignity and re- gard for life back to the system.” A powerful Venusian trans- mitter had been spewing out this defiance for many hours, repeating the same words continuously. The marshal had sent out a general alert and had summoned a staff conference Now he paced the floor of the central operations room impatiently, waiting for his officers to arrive, and watching the robots quickly arrange the planetary and systematic charts and set up the tri-dimensional _pro- jectors. The officers arrived. Their shaven heads bobbed in the cloisters and around the chart tables. A tide of alarmed conversation made the deli- cate pillars quiver. “Silence,” shouted Mar- shal Takato. “ Fighters, we have come together to con- sider action. As you know, a revolutionary appeal has been issued by some demented 41 schemers on Venus. You will agree that this madness must be crushed at birth. I will call upon... Yes, what is it?” “Report on Cha Tabarni from the Solar Records — Centre, sir,” said a colonel. “ It appears that Tabarni was Thought Guardian to your son on the Moon.” The marshal’s indrawn breath made a sharp hiss, but in a second an order from him had stilled the murmur. that rose from his staff officers. “T will call upon Major Vataron to speak,” he said. The major, a tall Martian with a pale face, spoke rapidly : “ Since the first mes- sage was monitored a con- stant stream of repetition has been coming in. But there has been one variation on the manifesto. It is in the form of an ultimatum. All Fighters must surrender their weapons and space vehicles or face starvation. ‘The system will -no longer be supplied with food. This siege will last until comiclooks.com