Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 50 — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

IT TAKES TWO “Try.” That was all, just the one laconic word. Jarril knew that old Ben was not speaking to him. Before he could sort out the position or try to draw any sort of conclusion, he saw a boil of human figures spread- ing out from the domes and huts come running towards the rocket through the green, cultivated fields. Little figures with waving arms and empty hands and open mouths cry- ing words that were lost in the still air before ever they reached the people high in the rocket’s nose. Jarril looked down un- emotionally, summing up the situation and deciding on the next step. He was familiar with the rocket’s lay-out and knew precisely where the few weapons were housed. He looked calculatingly at the running people outside, see- ing them grow larger as they came nearer, take on recog- nisable features and person- alities. Was it necessary for him to burn them down? Probably not—they could not harm him inside the ship, nor could they prevent a 49 take-off. On the other hand, the more people left here in this isolated settlement the better he envisaged the func- tioning of the commind would be. There was the Navy-instilled thought that it would be good for morale and discipline if he burned some of them. Then per- haps, next time, the survivors would be more co-operative. That would be acting accord- ing to the book. Jarril’s hand moved slowly to the red firing knob, and he sensed, without having to look, the tenseness grow among his five prisoners. He refused, even then, to look into Claire’s eyes. Nobody said anything. Let them be. They were not really worth his bother- ing with. His job was to take this incredibly valuable cargo of potential commind instruc- tors back to Earth. Jarril punched the firing studs and simultaneously he felt within his head a swirling vortex of pressing thought, sweeping out and circling idiotically, so that every nerve and function of his body was stilled and held suspended. comicloooks.conn