Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 53 — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

A PRESENT FROM MARS “‘How many people are there in the world, Daddy— three?” *‘Billions, I guess.” *““Daddy-one says ten hun- dred billions.”’ *““Daddy-onemight know.” “Where did we all come from, Daddy-three ?” “From a planet called _ Earth, near a sun called Sol. No one knows where that is. A long way off.” “Did we all come in space- ships ?” “Only one ship. And only ten people with the grey men.”’ “Did you ever see a grey man?” “Not me, son. They. all died a great many years ago.”’ ““Why did they die?” “They were slow. They had very long lives; but they got fewer and fewer, while more and more people were born, and in the end there weren’t any more grey men left.” ““Were the grey men the Builders ?” “Well, not exactly. The Builders are only a legend— not history. They were sup- posed to live on that planet called Earth, and they built wonderful cities with the help of tiny brown insects.” 95 ““We’ve got wonderful cities, too.” ““That about the Builders is a story—some ancient people, I guess, who made bigger houses than other ancient people; and as for the insects, I expect those people were just plain lousy.” IT’S HERE— the NEW monthly FATE TRUE stories of the Strange and unknown! FATE will shock you, startle you, with its fearless investiga- tions of today’s unsolved mysteries. Order now, 1/2 (post free) from 100 Fate Magazine | Pages The Manor House, - Worcester Park, Surrey. (13/6 post free per year) comiclbooks.conn