Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 52 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION But does that make it a plague? Of course it doesn’t, and if it was what you're both afraid of, there would be evidence of it. Bodies lying where they had fallen, the huts burned, a litter of dead, but have we found anything like that? You know very well that we haven’t. No. You can cut plague right out. Dll stake my reputation on it.” “A very one-sided bet,” murmured Gerald, then took the sting from his words by smiling at the irate doctor. “Did you find anything else?” *““No.”’ “Nothing at all, doctor?” Williams raised his eyebrows. “I’ve dug up fifty-two graves since we landed,” said Her- mitage tightly. “I’ve been over every inch of the settle- ment and covered most of the clearing. How much do you expect a man to do in three days?” “‘There’ll be time to rest after we have found what happened to the others,” snapped Williams. “‘Now is ~ the time to work.”’ 16 bearers. “Oh? Then what have you done?” : *“*Gerald?’’ Williams ignored the question. “Did you discover anything im- portant ?”’ “In three days ?”’ The ecolo- gist shrugged. “I did my best, but it isn’t much. The bushes—you can hardly call them trees—seem to bear a continuous supply of fruit. By that I mean that there are flowers, buds, immature and mature fruit all on the same plant. That seems to be general with every plant I’ve examined. The trees proper, some of them grow over three hundred feet tall, are all nut- Some have fruit similar to a coconut, others have fruit like a brazil; there are a multitude of types, but | all have that one thing in common. They all bear a continuous supply of fruit.” “Isn’t that unusual?’’ Her- mitage seemed to have re- covered his good humour; at least he had lost his angry flush. . “Very. unusual,” agreed comiclooks.comn