Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION guide-rail and sent the lift sloping over the communal parking lot. It was a small machine and all he needed were twenty square feet of free space. He couldn’t find them. The parking area ran for most of the distance around the terrace. It was a big build- ing, and a big terrace, and the further Frank searched, the further he would have to travel to get back to the job. Frustration added to his irrita- tion and he swooped low, sending up a cloud of dust from his air blast. An attend- ant yelled at him, waving him upwards and taking his num- ber. Frank swore, conscious of more trouble to come, and then sent the lift skimming back to the one clear area on the terrace. He grounded with a jerk which jarred his bones, cut the engines and jumped from the machine. Maybe the offi- cial had gone. Maybe he would be lucky for once and yet away with something for a change. He wasn’t. The man had obviously been waiting for him, sheltered from view between two parked machines. 16 He came forward, his lips thinned with self-conscious anger. “I thought so,”’ he snapped. “You deliberately returned when you thought that I had gone.” “There just isn’t anywhere else,” said Frank. He glanced longingly towards the entrance of the factory. “I went all over and couldn’t find any- where to set down.”’ “Insolence,” said the man. “That’s the trouble with you workers. We give you the best, pay you far more than you're worth, and then you get arrogant.”’ He pointed at the coleopter. “Shift that machine.” “Shift it where ?”’ Frank felt his anger mounting. The pip- squeak facing him represented all he hated in life, the rules, regulations, petty trivialities, smugness and frustrations. He began to walk away. “Wait a minute!’ The man jumped in front of him, his voice rising. ““You heard what I said. You’re going to shift that machine.” “Go to hell.” “What!” comicloooks.com