Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 54 — page 94: what you’re looking at

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

NONENTITY party to killing anyone for their rations. I is “Killing? Who said any- thing about killing?’ Despite the denial she didn’t raise her voice. “‘I never suggested” *‘Work it out for yourself,” he said, impatiently. “The only way to stretch the rations is for someone to stop using them. I want no part of it.” “You... For a moment he thought that she would strike him. Then she swore, thrust angrily at the metal and drifted away. He shrugged. The lights came on and they ate, cold, tasteless paste from cans washed down with stale water sucked through a nipple. Lorna ate in sulky silence, not looking at Henley, and after the meal drifted into a corner with Jeff, their heads bent close together. The woman moved towards the officer and Henley joined her as she opened the medical kit. *“How is he?” “Bad. The collar bone is smashed and I think some ribs as well. His arm is useless and there’s some internal bleed- ing.’’ She fumbled among the small store of drugs. ‘“There’s nothing I can do.” “Will he die?” “T don’t know. I hope not; 93 he’s such a nice young man and it’s a pity that he should end like this.”” There was a naked sincerity in her voice and Henley was surprised to find her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “‘He reminds me of Joe, my husband, when we first met. That was back home before we left for the aster- oids. 1...’ She gulped and shook her head. “You wouldn’t be: interested in that.” “I could be interested,” he said, gently, and took the hypodermic from her hands. “Let me do that.” “Can you?” “I can give an injection—if you tell me what to inject.” He glanced towards the boy, hunched against a wall, wide- eyed and shrunken. “‘Go back to Tommy now, he looks scared.” Fora moment mother instinct struggled with duty; then, as Henley turned to- wards the officer, her maternal feelings won and she returned to the thin-faced boy. “How are you feeling?” Henley carefully slipped the needle into a vein and pressed the plunger. “Better?” “I suppose so.”’ The officer tried not to show his obvious pain. ““That stuff could be water for all the good it conmcloooks.com