Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 52 — page 75: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION “Yes,” he said, biting back a sarcastic rejoinder. “Right, you take this brute then.”’ Rodell handed over the reins of one of the animals. “They’ve got mouths like iron, but if you know how to handle them they’ll match up to anything Sol has produced.” He placed a foot in the stirrup and vaulted astride the animal. Munson followed suit. “Your field training will start in earnest right away,” said Rodell, as they trotted along. ‘““We are on our way to attend the Khuru’s midsum- mer banquet—so watch your step. After twenty-five years of reasonably comfortable living on this lump of cosmic mud I’d hate you to get my throat cut during the last six months. A certain amount of awkward- ness will be excused. I’ve prepared the ground by telling them that you are a kinsman from the distant and barbaric north—but don’t rely on that too much, and remember that the Manyhian culture is based on the ritualistic observance of its own archaic conventions.”’ Munson chewed his lip. He had hoped for a few quiet days in which to accustom himself to the alien civilisation; a chance to test out at leisure the text-book background with which he had been 74 equipped at A.T.C. The pros- pect of plunging straight into the social whirl of Manyh aggravated his initial feeling of uncertainty. Surely Rodell could have planned things better than this? Despite the fact that Rodell was his only remaining link with Earth, Munson found himself looking forward to the time when he would be the sole ESRA agent on the planet. Manyh was one of the many thousands of Earth-type worlds bearing humanoid life which the Interstellar Ex- ploration Corps had found in their sweeps across the galaxy. In common with most of these planets the culture and tech- nology of the Manyhian civili- . sation lagged several thousand years behind that of Earth. When the first few of these backward planets were dis- covered an enlightened com- mittee of the Solar Federation | conceived the Extra Solar Relations Agency. The func- tion of ESRA was to provide undercover agents who would keep a brotherly eye on the progress of the backward planets towards higher civi- lisation, and give an occasional nudge in the shape of new ideas when a race was headed down a blind alley. As the number of known earth-type comiclbooks.comn