Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 67 — page 76: what you’re looking at

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

THE LONG JOURNEY That’s up to the colonists, not us. We’re not expendable.” Thorne was right, of course, and Stanley knew it. He sighed as he straightened in his chair. “We'll orbit and photo- graph,” he said firmly. “‘Nor- mal procedure.” He busied himself with the data sheets to avoid seeing their expressions. Photographs showed a world which, as worlds went, was no prize. Gravity was slightly greater than that of Earth, the oxygen content lower, the water far more scarce. As a world for future colonisation it was admissable only on the lowest level, a world of deserts, scanty vegeta- tion, few natural resources. A world which had long since passed its prime and was now on the way to planetary death. But the photographs showed more than that. “Civilisation!” Leman stared up from the still-damp prints. ““Look! Civilisation!” ““Where ?”’ Klien shouldered his way to the table. “‘Cities? Impossible!” 75 “Look for yourself then.” Leman passed over the print and grabbed another. “See? That depression there, and that long, too straight line. Nature never made that. There’s intelligent life on this world or,”’ he corrected him- self, “‘there was. Boys! We’ve hit the jackpot!” ‘Take it easy!” Hemridge reflected the contagious en- thusiasm of men who, all their lives, had searched for another thinking, building race of beings and, as yet, had never found one. ‘“‘Let’s be certain. Where are the rest of the prints?” **Here.’”’ Leman thrust them forward. “What say, Hem- ridge? Am I right ?”’ ““How do I know?” Hem- ridge looked up as Stanley, accompanied by Thorne, en- tered the rec-room. Being the largest room in the vessel it was used for anything requir- ing plenty of space, from impromptu wrestling matches to assembling ariel photo- graphs for marking and code- reduction. ““Hey, Cap! You’ve been working on these prints. Is Leman right? Are there signs of buildings?” comicloooks.com