Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 65 — page 91: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION and there were tears on her cheeks. ““My creator made a big mistake when he gave my vocal chords a full sonic range,” Valdesco said harshly, “and you made a bigger mistake when you signed me to broadcast to the world. I’m going to sing the death of a billion people!” “Val . . !” The girl’s voice was a despairing cry as he left. Stepping quickly through the door, he locked it, and made his way towards the studio. Mark came to life with a jerk and flung himself frantically at the door, bound- ing uselessly until he saw the phone on the dressing table. Snatching it up he dialed Robert Henshaw’s number. His only thought was to get hold of the man who made Valdesco, and who might somehow convince him he was wrong. In the studio the orchestra waited silently for him to reach the dais. He mounted, looked up at the microphones which studded the air above. He smiled and spread his arms, and the music swelled 90 up all around him as -he looked into the gleaming eyes of the cameras and sang. It was a song about a boy and a girl, and love. Not so long ago he had thought it a beautiful song; now he hated it and only waited for the climax. In his electronic brain, in- formation flashed across cir- cuits and collected in cells, maths and frequencies were correlated and set aside. He knew the scale which would kill human beings; he knew how to produce the note which would cover that scale. He waited, enjoying the song now and hating all humanity. It was as he finished the first verse and stood waiting for the orchestra to lead him into the second that he re- membered Valerie’s choking cry. Until then he had refused to think of her at all, con- vinced he was a robot with a robot’s feelings and hatred where love had once been. But suddenly he realised that he didn’t hate her. Even though she could only regard him with horror and disgust, he still loved her. The know- ledge confused him, and whilst comiclooks.cormn