Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 53 — page 91: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION of DDT tore through the fabric of the cities ... And still Cimex Martialis thrived. She said: “If only we could camp.” **There’s nothing to it. They still go wherever folks are.” “If we had more light .. .” At first there had been a rush for flex and bulbs, for more light meant less Cimex. Then the power stations in most States began their load- shedding; federal orders clamped down on wattage... She looked at her husband. He was a figure familiar to millions—the personification of top-hats and tails. He was small-looking and bewildered. He had never, until now, found a world where the best joke was stale and no one wanted to dance. She looked at the pretty wallpaper. On it the identical files of bugs were like traffic arteries, slow moving; there were road junctions—ganglia that almost seemed controlled. She was past shuddering. She went into the nursery. The baby was sleeping. His face was tiny and red, and five bugs were clamped to it— three on one cheek and two on the other. She picked them off and covered his face with butter muslin that had cost ten dollars a yard. TOP SECRET AND PRIORITY. President. Preliminary report of Ento- mological Committee led by Professor Kenn L. Sigsbee, received. Quotation : The conditions are unique. As Martian origin of invaders is now established (on evidence of Cdr. Bulwyn K. Maggurt and spaceship crew) certain novel factors arise. We cannot look to terrestrial genetics for any precedent. A well-known phrase which mirrors a fundamental of bio- tics is balance of nature. Terrestrially this means that any tendency of species to- wards world-infestation is coun- tered by a complexity of natural enemies. Among terres- trial species this balance always asserts itself. The reasons lie in the conditions of our planet; the same conditions which give birth to a species afterwards serve to control it. What has happened? An alien life-form has been brought from Mars. Possibly this might have been harmless; possibly it was just a sad chance that THIS PARTICULAR life-form should comiclooks.com