Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 51 — page 35: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION The way in which she sharply finished told him that pain had jabbed at her once more. She kicked swiftly and impatiently forward, and in a moment he was racing after her. In search of forgetful- ness, she laughed, and sud- denly it was a chase through the winding underwater caverns, sending fish plunging away and drawing a fine flurry of grey material from the bottom, which soon clouded their helmets. It was like groping around in a fog. Warren slowed down, anxious not to smash his helmet or rip his flesh against the jutting rock formation. He moved cautiously, trying to pick out Deborah from the slowly- subsiding cloud. He groped with one hand, and touched her arm. She stood still. The swirling fog dissolved, and now he could see her. She did not move her arm away. Then, abruptly, her atten- tion was distracted. She looked past him, over his shoulder. 34 “What is it?” ~ asked Warren, turning quickly in case there was some un- expected menace coming on them from behind. But there was only a motionless grey figure stationed by one of the jutting rocks. Deborah said tautly : “One of the Greys. Doing sentry duty, just to make sure no one has an accident on the rocks.” “Even down =. here?” Warren swore softly. ‘‘ Can’t you ever get away from the damned things?” “It’s all part of their public service: there were one or two accidents down here in the early days, so the Greys had to instal one of their watchmen.” “Any excuse to intrude! Any excuse to watch every human activity !” The taste of the day seemed to have been ruined. There was something disturbing and uncanny about the Grey—a creature down here at the bottom of the sea without any comicloooks.com