Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 71 — page 119: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION “Not ill.” Mark paused. _. “Disturbed? Yes, disturbed.” He tried to explain. “‘Everyone sleeps, don’t they? If they don’t sleep then they can’t be efficient. I must remain efficient.” “Then is that the cause of your fear? Do you feel that, because you can’t sleep, you are heading for breakdown ?’’ Henderly felt that, at last, they were getting somewhere. “Insomnia is usually a symp~ tom of mental unrest, but I suppose that it could be the cause of fear in itself. Tell me, do you feel tired, listless, unable to concentrate on your job?” “No.” Mark was quite definite about that. “And I’m not afraid because I can’t sleep. I just feel that I should.” Henderly nodded. “One other thing. Your emotional life—are you engaged, mar- ried? Do you have a girl?” “No.” ““Have you ever had one?’ “No.” “TI see. You say that you cannot remember your child- hood. How far back can you remember ?” “IT don’t know.”’ Mark ap- peared baffled. “It seems that ~ ve always been like this.” Amnesia with some para- noia, and most definitely schi- zoid. Henderly felt proud of his diagnosis. The trouble was obviously the old Freud- ian one. Renold must have been in his late twenties, and, if he spoke the truth, his basic urges had taken a terrible beating. He decided to try a short cut. “IT can help you, Mr. Renold,” he said, with pro- fessional assurance. “‘Natur- ally, I shall need your co- operation. I intend to try hypnosis. You have a tremen- dous sub-conscious barrier which we must somehow break down to permit of the uninhibited flow of early mem- ories. Your fear is obviously the result of insecurity caused by having lost the memory of your early life and childhood. Once we restore that, then 113 cComicbooks:¢om