Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 52 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION brilliantly coloured smoke clouds, imagining the staccato explosions accompanying the light and smoke. After ten minutes he said, quietly: ““Try another.” Then, fifteen minutes after that: “One more and we’ll be on our way.” Williams glanced sharply at the elderly captain. ‘““What do you mean?”’ ““What I said. Unless they answer we'll get moving. You and your people can return to Earth; it’s our next stop any- way, and Hyperon can be written off as a ‘bad’ planet.” gh ae “Yes.” Barker shrugged as he stared at the silent and deserted clearing. “Some- thing’s happened down there. Disease perhaps, dangerous native life, something lethal in the atmosphere, any one of a thousand things. It doesn’t matter what it is, my orders are plain. Any colony failing to respond to signals is to be considered dangerous and must be abandoned.” “But you can’t do that!” Williams stared desperately at the screen. “They may be in trouble, or away on an expedition, anything. You just can’t abandon five hundred men and women merely be- cause they didn’t answer your signal.” “T can and I will,” said Barker coldly. He stared shrewdly at the young com- mander. “I know what’s on your mind, Williams. You’re thinking that if you return to Earth you'll lose your com- mand. Well, maybe you will, but isn’t that better than landing here when you don’t know what happened to the others ?” “I can’t agree. Earth needs these new worlds, Barker, and too many of them are proving unfit for human habitation. You mentioned a hundred worlds a short while ago. Did you know that, of those hundred, only ten managed to support a colony for the first ten years? You know how things are back home. With the popula- comiclooks.conn