Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 122: what you’re looking at

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

CAT UP A TREE graph across his desk. The line that had -been added since Drew last saw the graph swooped vertically to the base. If it had gone any further it would have registered resurrection. ““Not one in ten days,” said Ferguson. “‘Thanks to your wife.” “Janie?” “That’s right. And to you for coming to see me in the first place. Results show that our evaluation of the prob- lem was correct. But until your wife was examined in the local hospital we couldn’t be sure.” **You told me the others had been analysed, back home.”’ ““Ah—that’s where we slipped up. On Earth, the conditions which drove these people to murder no longer prevailed. The analysts failed to extract one tenth of the information which we got from your wife in one session here on Mars.” Drew admitted his con- fusion. “I don’t get it. Con- ditions in the colony are good.” ‘Agreed. But a tree full of 121 fish doesn’t make a cat any less scared.” Ferguson laughed at him- self. “I’m sorry about that. I had an analogy in mind and I’ve taken it too far.” He sobered. ““Out here on Mars, man is like a cat up a tree. He got there in a mad rush of enthusiasm. Then he found himself stuck there, lonely and afraid, and scared to come down.”’ It wasn’t the analogy that bothered Drew, but the in- ference to be drawn from it. “We've been in space a long time now,’ he said. “High altitude rockets. The building of the Wheel. The Moon landing, and the station built on the Moon. The first few ships out here. The build- ing of the Beehive. And now the colonisation. Until lately there was no running amok.” “The first pilots were different. They had the en- thusiasm. They were rushing up the tree. The Wheel and the Moon are different, too; the old homestead is still there within sight. Even out — here the initial enthusiasm left -no room for fear to creep in. Fear didn’t come until the comiclbooks.comn