Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 135: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION If the citizenry stay in their holes long enough, and we can get Joseph patched up before the Creep gets underground, there’s a chance that we might’”—he curled his lip at the phrase— “that we might save the world. It’s obvious now why we’re still alive, but we may not be so lucky if the neutraliser stops working, as it could do.”” He told her of the chambers open to the air and of the dead alien crew. Lena looked down at the unmoving figure on the floor of the bar. ““We don’t even know if he’s alive. He hasn’t twitched a muscle since you went out.” ““That’s something else to pray for. We’ll have to leave him anyhow while we scour the safety zone. Two of us will cover the streets quicker than one could.” They started with the street where the sparrow lay. Lena took one side. Sam took the other and counted his paces to get a measure of the limits of the safe area. While he contented himself with peering through house win- dows, Lena was more thorough and rang every door- bell on her side of the street. Sam was waiting a cautious ten yards from the bird when she caught up with him. ““Oh, the poor little thing!” she cried, and darted forward. Sam yelled: “You bloody fool!’ and dived at herlegsina flying tackle, bringing her down witha slam that punched the breath out of her. He picked her up and carried her away from the dead sparrow. When he set her down roughly, she rubbed her ribs and said: “I’m sorry. That was stupid of me. I didn’t think.” Grudgingly, Sam said: “I’m sorry, too, if I hurt you. But you saw what happened to the sparrow. It must have dropped in its tracks the instant the Creep hit it. The level must be blistering high.” The luck which had or- dained that they should sur- vive the Creep through the influence of the alien space- 134 comiclbooks.corn