Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 129: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION shallows. A smooth sandy cove offered a safe recharging place and he surged ponder- ously half up the sloping beach. Opening every skin plate to maximum absorption, he lay in the weak rays of a pale and tenuous sun and mopped up what littie energy reached him through the thick and turgid atmosphere. It was low tide when he arrived and he was about to move higher up the beach when the sun set and left him in darkness. There was no point in moving further; besides, the landing on this peculiar planet had depleted his reserves far more than he had thought. He decided to await until the planet turned on its axis. When it did, he was disappointed. A heavy concentration of water-vapour obscured the pale orange star and all he could get were useless radiations. Toward the middle of the third day, Algo moved. He had to find a more reliable source of power than this wretched sunlight. His per- ceptors had located a low- energy field existing inland. 128 It was feeble, but steady. He rolled cautiously across the sand and, skirting a line of metal rods, passed between a tall, intricate and surprisingly hard variety of plant life to an open space. He halted to scrutinise the movement going on around a structure im- mediately ahead. A flat plate, of the same substance as the plants around him, was being lifted and lowered over the mouth of what appeared to be a fine recharging berth. There was power inside there, he could sense it quite distinctly, and a.tremor ran through Algo’s tired body. The movement around the berth at last ceased and some small, rather fuzzy looking shapes, went away. Algo waited for some time until he was sure they had gone, then eased himself carefully across the smooth, hard sur- face in front of the strucutre. The berth was sealed off by the flat plate and he explored the edges with the end of his antenne. There seemed to be no way of opening it without pushing it down. The problem was fed back to his memory banks and almost at once an COMUCHOOkKkS.COMs a