Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 54 — page 59: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION While he was heaving, a section of the glass-fronted shelving opened slowly like a door and the unsightly Mr. Sweet lumbered from con- cealment. Not only his face but his whole body also was twitching with excitement. He advanced until he faced Tyler across the bench. “IT have come to gloat, little man.” Tyler leaned against his side of the bench, trembling and feeling very ill. He wiped his mouth with a handker- chief. “Are you behind this?’ he whispered. “Yes.” It was a triumphant little squeak of victory. “I didn’t really think you’d go so far as suicide, but I al- lowed for it, none the less. You can’t gas yourself with oxygen. You can’t poison yourself with common table salt.” “What did I ever do to you?” Tyler asked, wearily. -He was drained even of the will to be bitter. *““You murdered me, that’s all. Stole my life.’’ Sweet had all the bitterness Tyler lacked, and more. He spat hate 58 across the bench. “Scientists!” he said. “Scientists! Devils! I’d like to wipe out the whole brood of them.” Tyler summoned a touch of dignity. He said, quietly: “If you’ve chosen me to represent the class, I’m flattered. But I’m only a humble worker in the cause.” “The cause!” jeered Sweet. “You call your mumbo-jumbo tricks a cause? You and your kind have never risen above the level of a tribal witch doctor. Most of you are devoid of imagination. You just copy each others’ tricks. Some fool puts a rat in a maze with its food at the other end, lets it learn the path to its food by trial and error, and then keeps chang- ing the layout until the poor creature is baffled into help- lessness and is frightened to move at ail. Right, he’s proved something—that you can torture a rat into a nervous breakdown. All the rest of you keep doing it over and over again, to see who can drive the most rats mad the fastest. Then some genius gets the idea of trying it on guinea-pigs, dogs, cats, mon- comicloooks.conm