Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 48 — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

RECOIL ship. Lights dimmed slightly as the automatic sealing devices eagerly went to work on the meteor-pierced outer hull. The air pumps didn’t start, so the meteor hadn’t weakened the inner hull. When the signal came to talk, Nielson said dully : “ Moore is dead.” The sharp intake of breath from the man on Mars hissed through the little loud- speaker. “ That’s tough, kid. Have you followed instruc- tions about the body?” “ Of course.” Nielson took a deep breath, and suddenly yielded to an overwhelming impulse to confess: “I put up with him as long as I could i “Nobody expected you to keep going with a corpse in- side the ship,” the other inter- rupted hastily, sympatheti- cally. “The family will understand. As long as you have the body’s life-rocket properly hooked to the outer . hull, so that it won’t break loose from the ship in land- INS) sis os, 81 Nielson grabbed for his handkerchief, stuffed it into his mouth, and smothered the irresistible laughter that shook his whole body. He doubled up in glee, thinking that he was the most _ ridiculous, amusing person ever to travel in space. It was ludicrous, he knew suddenly, to have gone through that emotional up- heaval, worrying about the way the space coffin followed the Perseus. The man on Mars had __sinadvertently reminded Nielson of the truth: The Perseus, no matter how little it co- operated in this emergency with a murderer, would be forced to brake for the land- ing on Mars, the life-rocket would be attracted by Mars’ gravity, and would crash down against the surface of the planet, destroying itself and its grisly contents. “Hey, take it easy, kid.” The voice from Mars fought for Nielson’s attention. ‘“‘Cry- ing won't do any good.” Nielson, realising that some of his laughter had been comicloooks.com