Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

NUISANCE VALUE ing around the guts of that ship. As soon as it seeped into the telemeters, of course, they stopped functioning.” He got up and looked thoughtfully at the board. Another of the meters went dead. **Now all we can do is hope that it doesn’t get into the remote control mechanism as well,”’ he finished. He turned to Foley with a frightened look in his eyes. The psycho- logist answered the question before it was. asked. ““No, don’t mention the idea to Post. He may think of it himself, but don’t call his attention to it if you can help it. It may only be the tele- metering circuits which are affected.” **I don’t understand it,”’ the flight lieutenant said, after a while. Taunton turned grey eyes on him. “Understand what, young man?” **How that bleed cock came to fracture, sir,’’ the other answered. “I helped to go over that ship inch by inch before the blast-off, and there wasn’t a single part within a thousand hours of fatigue fracture.” Taunton glanced at the wing commander. “Is that right?” he demanded. 95 “Yes, sir,” the wing com- mander answered tiredly. “It shouldn’t have happened.” The general, Foley thought absently, looked like a terrier who had just scented a rat. He said, softly: ““You mean it might be sabotage ?”’ “Surely, general,” inter- posed Foley, ‘ ‘there’s bound to be an inquiry.” “Yes, by thunder!” ‘Pann, ton asserted. ‘And it might as well start now, too!” He strode over to the telephone on the far wall of the block- house, and shouted for his adjutant’s office. Foley found he was almost physically sick with tension, and deliberately relaxed him- self with a dozen deep breaths. Then he settled down to wait. The hours passed, more slowly than he would have believed possible. Between Taunton’s occasional threats that he would court martial someone, and the solemn, measured announcements from the Air Force officers that yet another instrument had been put out of action, he found time to appreciate the superb irony that, in the midst of their first successful shot as far as the human side was concerned, they were biting their nails over the near-impossible—a mechanical breakdown, conniicloooks.conm