Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 71 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

He came out of the bath-. room and showed her his sponge. She looked at it closely. It had been an irregu- lar piece, but it was beginning to make itself into a ball and lose its channels and whorls. Even someone who was un- familiar with that particular sponge could see it had changed. Esther shuddered. “That’s the first thing to show it,’’ said Winter. ““‘We haven’t the instruments to detect any difference in the walls or air. But really this check wasn’t necessary. Noth- ing has ever been found to affect the green ball but black moss. Maybe some day a ship will be lucky and find itself safe when it believed itself doomed. But not this one.” “I’m glad I know. I’d hate waiting to see if it was yes or no.” *“That’s how I feel’”’ **And your astrogator. . . He didn’t want her to talk about Shaw. Even if: the youngster had been at fault there was no point in talking _ about it. He digressed wildly. “Not ‘astrogator,’ please. Sometimes the layman gets hold of the wrong word and 33 20 AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION stubbornly uses it instead of the right one. Like ‘subcon- scious.’ It was a man named Freud who discovered the unconscious centuries ago, and called it the unconscious. But for some reason people preferred their own word for it, and they won in the end. Even the Freudians call it the subconscious now.” “And what’s wrong with the word ‘astrogator’ ?” That was good, that she could even pretend to be interested in etymology. She was all right yet. ‘Some ignoramus in the past thought ‘navigation’ had something to do with guiding ships on the sea, and thought ‘astrogation’ would mean guiding ships among the stars. But ‘navigation’ came from navis, a ship, and agere, to drive, and is still right for star-navigation. ‘Astrogation’ would mean driving stars about.” She grinned. “I have to admire a man who can lecture at a time like this,” she said. “Do all captains study the derivation of words in their spare time?” “No, I got that at second conmiclsooks.conn