Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 151: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION up. “Help me to the door,” he said. “Let me see this world of yours again.” With the sunshine in his face, he continued: “‘I won’t deny that I could help. My ship could absorb the radia- tion through its shields, con- vert it to another form of energy and redirect it into space, or into the core of your Earth. With the assis- tance of my friends’ ships, your whole world could be made clean again. But to what purpose? Wouldn’t the same thing happen all over again?” Lena was earnest. “No, Blon, not again. I’m sure a lesson like this will be .re- membered.” “Perhaps,” said the alien. “‘And perhaps not. The ques- tion is—should you be given the chance? From what I’ve seen, Terrans are tolerable as individuals, but madmen to be avoided in the mass; which doesn’t surprise me—my own race is human, and our his- tory is. similar to yours in 130 pattern, but not in the in- tensity of violence. Incom- patibility would appear to be a human failing.” “It’s teachers we need,” said Lena. “‘People like Sam, who could hammer home the lesson of the Creep.” The alien faced her squarely. ‘I could do the same thing,” he said, and his face was so stern that Lena’s head drooped in despair. “By letting us suffer for our sins?’ she whispered. “That isn’t what I meant,” Blon corrected quietly. “I could help in the same way as Sam could. And apart from the example of the Creep, I could tell them of another example—my own planet. You see, my friends and I, we're political refugees.” Lena hardly dared to ask: “Then ?” “Then,” said the alien, breathing deep in the mid- day breeze, “if Sam will be kind enough to carry me back to my ship——”” comiclbooks.conn