Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 139: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION order. Gone from his eyes was the somnolent dejection; they shone bright with eager confidence. But the greatest change was in his manner. “Into the back room,” he said briskly. ““There’s a table prepared. Sam followed Sullevan with his burden—a_ surprisingly light burden ‘considering the cumbersome spacesuit. His own injury hadn’t bothered him since wakening, and he surmised that the wound was clean and beginning to heal. “‘Wash your hands in the basin,” the old man ordered. “Both of you. And be ready to help if I should ask you to. The instruments on the tray shouldn’t be too difficult to recognise. When I call for one, dip it in this jar of alcohol before handing it over. It’s the best I can arrange in the way of sterilisa- tion; there’s no current to boil water by.” He bent over the alien and gave a cursory glance through the blood-spattered . visor. ‘““Mmm——”’ he said. .“‘Awk- 138 ward.”’ Yet he didn’t sound too pessimistic. Instead, he | appeared to relish the fact that his task was going to be difficult. ““Half the ribs broken, if nothing worse,” he intoned to himself. ““Very awkward.” Lena asked: “Can you set his bones without taking the suit off?” “Possibly. But I might kill him in the process, and there might be complications which I can’t diagnose until he is stripped. If it is at all possible, I must have him stripped. Otherwise—then I shall have to risk working from the outside and hope his lungs aren’t punctured.” *“‘How——?”” began Lena. Sullevan silenced her with a gesture to signify that he was too busy to answer questions. Although he could not pos- sibly have encountered an alien patient before, he set to work with a_ business-like sureness that staggered the others. The fingers of his right hand curled familiarly round the barrel of a hypodermic . — ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ge pe ee NN i Sle One he a, ee Comiclooks.con§