Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 94: what you’re looking at

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

NUISANCE VALUE got enough juice left to knock him out of orbit, if that’s what you mean. We could re-programme the re- mote control computers for an economy braking schedule, if you want one, but he’s supposed to land with fifteen tons’ reserve in hand, and he’s lost less than half that.” The wall speaker inter- rupted. “Hullo, base. Post here... fixed it.” Taunton bent to the mike. “‘Are you all right ?”’ he asked in an aching voice. “I’m fine, sir. Bit cramped, of course, and I'll have to dream up some way of wiping the juice off my suit before I dare crack my helmet—the air’s full of drops of it. If I can’t get out to eat, ’m going to be awfully hungry before I get down again.” He didn’t sound particularly up- set by the prospect. *“What was wrong?” Taun- ton pressed him. “The bleed cock on the pipe you mentioned. It had fractured at the base and come clean away.” “But that’s impossible!” said the flight lieutenant. The wing commander raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. ‘Impossible or not, it hap- pened,” said Post. “I covered the hole with a couple of hull 93 sealing patches. I hope I don’t get holed by any meteors after this—I had to use the two biggest for the job. I hung around and watched for a while, but the flow’s stopped. ” Foley and the wing com- mander looked at each other and smiled. No one else noticed. “How are you feeling?” Taunton demanded. *“A bit weak in the knees, sir, but otherwise all right. I’m mostly glad it wasn’t worse.” “So are we,” said Foley loudly, and Post chuckled in reply. “Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed in case anything else goes wrong. Let me know if you spot anything before I do. “Of course.’ *““That’s a then... Im getting used to this floating sensation now. I’m going to undog the observation ports and have a look at the Earth.” They tensed. This was the crucial point. Of course, the pilots on the trouble-free trips had reached this stage much earlier. The breakdown might only have been post- poned, for the ship was a world to itself, but space was —hbigger, perhaps, than the comicloooks.conn