Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 56 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION did, why should you go to all this trouble to check up on me?’ AndrUz looked up, and Lorens noticed for the first time that his face and chest were wet with sweat. The man was obviously not simply afraid of something—he was terrified. But terrified of what? Of Lorens himself? No; from the anxious glances he gave towards the door of the ante- room it seemed more likely that the thought of interrup- tion was frightening him. AndrUz did not answer him. Instead he went to the door and called out instruc- tions to his secretary. ““Lora— ° there’s an express delivery from Miultiservis arriving soon. My friend, Mr.—er, Mr. Lorens, is expecting it.” The doctor closed the door and turned to his visitor. “I don’t feel we should discuss anything until I’ve made these checks,” he said. He bent over the little pile of papers and objects once again. On ‘the wall behind him the electric clock soundlessly in- formed the two men of the passing of implacable time. When the doctor’s secretary announced that the Miulti- servis robot had arrived with the package AndrUz hustled his companion out into the anteroom so that his identi- fication could be checked. This completed, and the Multiservis fee paid over, the robot left and the two men retired once more to the consulting room. “What do you expect to find out from my grip?” Lorens wanted to know. He felt the whole thing was becoming farcical. He still knew nothing about himself, and from the doctor’s nervous attitude he was beginning to suspect that he was in some way involved in a felonious activity. After examining the con- tents of the grip, AndrUz brought out a small machine from the surgery that adjoined his consulting room. He set the machine on a null-grav beam so that it was suspended over his desk, then he passed Lorens’ possessions under it, viewing each very carefully through an aperture in the machine. From this Lorens gathered that the device was some sort of X-ray. conmicloooks.com