Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 56 — page 92: what you’re looking at

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

PERSONAL CALL able to tell until I get back and set to work. It’ll just be a— well, a sort of knack.” “I. hope,” she thought, simply and genuinely, “that it is all right.”’ There was a pause, then: “How much longer have you got?” Her head turned towards the clock. He saw more of the room. In her mind he knew the meaning of “‘Shome”’ —and angrily twisted away from it. “‘Less than a minute to go.” His irritation made her restless. He could sense it. She rose to her feet from the chair in which she had been seated, and walked across to fiddle with the window cur- tains. For a moment she pulled them back. Outside it was night. The blackness re- flected her face, and he saw the calm, beautiful features. Then the curtain fell across them. He thanked her. “I’m sure I'll find that I’ve got what I needed. It was good of you to co-operate.” The room blurred slightly. He was on his way back. As he left her, something that was not a direct thought 9} plucked at his mind. It was a plea that she could not have brought herself to put con- sciously into words: “Don’t be bitter. Don’t try to be unhappy. Don’t...” £6 “NOT it ?”’ said Masterman. Maxwell scowled. The cabin seemed oppressive. The vastness of space, in which he had liked to wander, so far from the clutching selfishness of women, became suddenly terrifying. He shook himself. The residue of that woman’s maw- kish thoughts clogged his mind—he must make an effort to free himself. “‘T think it’s all here, sir,” he said. “‘Can’t tell until I’ve got down to the job.” “Go ahead, then.”’ He took out the circuit diagram of the rectifier, and found that it looked different. It had acquired a new mean- ing. When he unscrewed the front panel and reached in for a cluster of wires foaming | about a terminal, his fingers knew what they were doing. He probed accurately, and knew what he would find even before he reached it. comiclooks.cormn