Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 53 — page 95: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION did not go away and he repeated: “I can read books.”’ They nodded. Mostly the books had mouldered away, but all knew the meaning of “BOOK.” *‘The books make me think queer, but the queerest thing of all they never said. The writing in the mountains said this thing straight—this queer thing.” “And what is this queer thing?’ asked the nudging listeners. “That the Builders had no bugs.” They roared with laughter. “Go away. You're crazy. All your life you come this way to tell us the same—that the Builders had no bugs. Men they were, weren’t they? Ever see a man without bugs?” The spaceship came down from the sky and hovered a hundred feet above the plain. This was America. It had made similar appearances in Europe, Asia, Australia... It was a huge ship, filling the sky. Gleaming vanes caught the light. Suddenly a port opened and a transparent sphere, as big as a cathedral, went slowly to the ground and bobbed inquisitively towards the hori- 94 zon. Another followed, and then another. The surfaces clouded and grew mottled, as test followed test — oxygen - heat - bacteria - radioactivity - humidity - pres- sure. They drank in video- images; listened microsonic- ally; trembled with the sensitivity of loaded ganglia. At last filming vacancies grew as force-fields relaxed and ports appeared. Pachy- dermatous creatures came out of the spheres—creatures roughly humanoid, the features over-large. Each stood about twenty feet high. The skin stretched taut over bald skull, or hanging like scrotum in heavy dewlaps, was grey and elephantine; it seemed doubtful if a blunt chopper would have made much im- pression on it. Yet these creatures, although awe-in- spiring, gave little impression of evil, but rather of the sad and gentle strength of circus elephants. Sadly and gently they gathered specimens—rocks, bugs, plants, bottled air, five terrified villagers of each sex. The spheres rolled back to the ship. The ship soared like a catapaulted pellet and later dematerialised into hyper- space. comicloooks.com