Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 65 — page 99: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION *“Fee-an-say—out of se- quence,” he explained. The man nodded, showing little interest. Still behaving calmly, he was shown another room where the man smell was strong, and then they came, at last, to a small laboratory. The dark metal room was filled with apparatus about which the robot moved with confidence, and as he sat and watched Farak-Ay, then the man was sure that it was here that he would be told. The robot leader did work with reels and tapes, and an ap- paratus with a large lens. A screen flickered—then came an image, a picture of a thin bearded face, brown and sharp, with deep lines of suffering etched upon it. ‘I am Farak,”’ said a gentle voice, “and I made you.” It was two hours and many reels later that the whole pattern began to fit together in the mind of the man—not once in that period had he doubted. Doctor Farak had been his master once, on this great ship, the Little World. They had left home Earth with a great crew and a 98 large number of colonists. For a long time this had been a dream of the leaders of home Earth, but when the mysterious gripping sickness had come, the plans for colonisation had become sud- denly urgent, and, complete in every detail, and with supposedly healthy stock on board, they had left for a new system, seeking haven. Then came the sad story of the years of search—of the women who became sterile, of how the man who had once been he who sat watching, and Doctor Farak, had tried the first disastrous experiments with the rejuvenation process, and how many had died from that, and later from the sickness which had crept in among them before they left home Earth, and had waited so long before it started to claim its victims anew. After that he had listened and seen the building of the new robots, and then he had seen and observed with detached won- der the recorded conversation between Farak and a short plump man, which was his former self. This had told him that he and his master comiclooks.corn