Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 71 — page 153: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION ‘ ‘_—-so he would choke in his own exhaled carbon- dioxide,” I finished huskily. Graves nodded sombrely. “Not at once, naturally. But with the forced-draught vent closed, it would build up slowly in front of his face. By the time he found out, ill as he was, it would be too late to escape. He’d tried to, of course. There was good evidence of that. But they’d been busy below, and had lain a good while themselves when they reached free fall; there’d been plenty of time... for a man to drown.-in his own unwanted breath. . .” “What a fiendish thing to do!”’ I exclaimed, still in the grip of horror. Graves raised his eyebrows. “Oh, but it wasn’t proved. I told you.” “‘What about opportunity ?” asked George curiously. “If they were both strapped down, and later went below to- gether ..::.”’ “That, of course, was one of the main points at the enquiry,” admitted Graves. “But Harry could have done it, just before he left the cabin to follow Tom overhead 152 — to the controls, while Tom was fastening the engineer down. If he was quick and quiet about it, very likely neither would have noticed the action. Five hours’ ac- celeration, plus an hour or soofno-weightandthedraught — shut off ...’’ Graves shrugged. “They tried the automatic artificial respirator, and heart massage and the usual drill, but for all that the engineer finished his last trip stuck in the cold room with the frozen oxygen.” ‘*‘Was any mechanical fault found in the draught system in the sleeping cabin?’ I asked. “Not a thing. But if you’d been in on that enquiry, would you have cared to accuse one of those two men of deliberate manipulation of the switch, after that terrible climb, with half the other apparatus jammed or out of order as a result of it?” ‘IT see what you mean,” I agreed. “If this Harry was- looking for an excuse, he'd — got a splendid cover-up there.” ‘“Fool-proof, eh?’ mused | George thoughtfully. | “IT told you it was neat,” — reminded Graves, looking conmiclooolks.Ccomn