Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 65 — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION he could do fantastic things with this weird version of electronics, things which con- founded all his previous ato- mic concepts. “It?s no use!’ he- cried. “It’s all wrong.” He lay frustrated on the open deck of the transter, beneath a sunless sky. The strange people gazed at him with a new sympathy. Pitiful little displaced thing! They reached the valley where Commander Vielra had fought and died, but they arrived too late. The Mhalro were advancing down upon the defenceless community, their mechanical treads churn- ing the mashed bodies of men. ' But this was wrong! Mailston almost wept again. These were the Mbhalro, certainly. He recognised green, segmented bodies, and the various colour shades of the different castes. But the machinery! Steam power and explosives . . . so primitive, compared with the frightening might that had caused humanity to desert its ‘culture in near-panic. An unwieldy monstrosity 46 rose, flapping and spinning, towards them, and_ shells began to explode about them. They enveloped the enemy flier with a ball of electric god-fire, and watched it flutter down into the valley. They dropped twenty-five bombs on the Mbhalro caravan, and turned their prows to Centre Valley, the seat of government and strength, and—according to Jai—the exact centre of the world. Ahead of him were seven faces—the Centre Valley Council. To the left of the Councillor Supreme—be- decked in shimmering gold robes, full of the flash and crackle of frictional electricity —was Jal, a young, deter- mined face among six more resigned ones. And _ behind the dais where the seven sat was the marble plain of the hall, filled with the whisper- ings of messengers, and swift patter of urgent feet. Above, the blaring of the god-lights forced daylight from the hall. “In the desert,’ said Jal. “Twenty miles from the Kahalino supply base. With a writing machine—with keys comicbooks.conn »