Page 29 - Astounding Pulp V2

29
28 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

O O
excited, though, and he promised to take had passed Venus with a thousand miles n m Es T c m E rtw4lW~ ··1~1~1t\f~\}itt!l:'.:tih/F:}Wj11
it up with the colonel . The colonel to spare, scarcely even feeling her gravity 1 11
would go to the general. pull as they swept by at 800 miles per
Blake groaned. In his radioscope second and left her far astern.
screen the Spirit of Terra now was visi- Everyone was talking all at once in
ble as a tiny speeding dot with a ten- the captain's lounge. The ship's entire
mile trail of incandescent gases astern. staff of officers was here. And an au-
-,
..
He thought he saw faint illumination off burn-haired girl. - 1 -- ~ ---- ... , ... ,,-...:-.-. ·,::-.-:;:•::>,->,>Y.❖:-~•,»
~ ~-,._.;::::::: -~•IMit .::::-,-... --..
to one side. Captain Brand had shooed off all her ~ --~--.,,.,,., ~ --6 :;;.--""- ......,_ .,,,i·,~~<c.:'<-,,m~,,=·>··
"See that, Masters ?" he demanded. other admirers and had her sitting be-
"Doesn't it look as if they were blasting side him on one of the comfortable di- One difficulty sometimes encountered in running one of Smith's. novels is that
a steering jet or something?" vans. She looked brightly up at the the serial following it, while, perhaps, a good. workmanlike job in itself. tends to
seem rather pale. That difficulty has been s-ettlcd. I thiok-or, rather, pushed off
"It does, Tommy, it does! But, big man· over the rim of her glass.
Lord, they're only four hundred thou- "You," he was telling her, " will see into the future by five months. The next serial will be " If This_ Go~ On-". by
1
Robert A. Heinlein. It is one of the strongest novels I have seen 111 sc1ence-fict on.
sand miles off. And 730 miles a sec- your Tommy boy. And you'll be able one of the most beautifully and carefully detailed pieces of science-fiction. lt:s a
ond. It's too late." to marry him, if I have anything to say
two-part novel, utterly different from Smith's "Gray Lensman,'' yet as strong a piece
Blake tore into the radio · room as a about it. That is, if I think he·s good 1
call came in. It was General Fulsen. enough for you when I look him over." of work in an equally tense field. .-
H e had to tell his story all ·over again. The girl laughed throatily. happily. ·• If This Goes On-" is the first of two novels we have lined up. It gives a
H e was nearly sobbing as he finished. "How can you arrange that?" she de- deadly keen picture of the future of a thing that is today an art, but will. tomorrow,
"Can't you see, sir ?" he pleaded. "The manded. be a science, a more fateful and important science, insofar as Man's future ~s con-
major checked with the other sphere. "How would you like to be my daugh- cerned. than the science of medicine. It is the future of propaganda, ~nd its fol-
He knows it's the truth. We've only a ter, Miss Zona?" The captain looked lower. dictatorship. P ropaganda and dictatorship de,·eloped to their ultimate. the
few minutes and it won't make any dif- down at his big red hands c\llcl blushed goal toward which they tend today-a false cult, hiding behind the mask of a new
ference to any of us !" as if this were a proposal of marriage. religion !
"I'll see what I can do with the space The girl's eyes misted. "Why?" she
It's fiction-and it's prophecy. And it is so thoroughly different in strength
line, young man." The G. H. Q. car- asked softly. · and presentation from any predecessor that it· wins Astounding·s rare Nova
rier was off and Tommy Blake tore his "Because," Brand told her solemnly,
hair. "that way you could have your Tommy designation.
"He'll see what he can do!" he raved Blake. Look: I'm the la"y and every- That is a two-part serial. We have already chosen its succes:or, "Blackot~l."
at nobody at all. "See what he can do. thing else on this ship. I can marry I announce them both no,v, because they form, really. an almost_ 1~ter-connecttng
Masters, if we live to tell the tale, I'm people or divorce them. I'm the judge pair, though "Blackout" is in no s nse a sequel, is: in fact. by a drfferent author-
7
getting out of this damn service." and the jury and the preacher, i( nec- L. Ron Hubbard. But as "If Tb1s Goes On-" ts the future of propaganda and
Masters grinned in spite of the im- essary. I can adopt you, have the pa- dictatorship. "Blackout" is the future of their spawn-creeds and war. We have
pending catastrophe. Two closeJy pers attested and all, right here. T hen, heard for months that "another E uropean war will mean the end of European
cropped heads came together before the with my permission as your father, you ci,·ilization." Well, what would that mean?
radioscope screen. can marry anybody you please on
"They are!" exulted 'Blake. " They Venus. Passport be cl-darned. Be- · " Blackout" is a o-rim and final answer-the night that comes when "Europe's
.
b
arc blasting off the side. And say ! sides"-Brand searched the girl's won- tights are going out, one by one"- and are not lit agam.
M.asters ! They're off the line. They'll drous and wondering eyes-'·I like you, 1t is not a simple publicity boast, but an honest opinion of a lonf timc ~ciencc-
m1s_s us. To hell with G. H. Q. and Miss Zona. I sort of think I'd like to fiction reader when I say that these two complementary novels, If This Goes
their song of 'see what I can do.' " have you for a daughter." On- " and "Blackout," are two o( the most po,,-erful and truly meaningful stories
The two OBS. men did a war dance Brand looked away. The chatter o( science-fiction has produced. If you have a friend you want to introduce to
of their own as a trail of penciled flame the crowded lounge was a meaningless science-fiction, these are the stories for him to begin on.
swept across the viewplate and off into background for his leaping thoughts.
space. Venus was safe and so was the "Why, you old dear," a soft voice was Due to the short while the November issue has been on the stands at the time
S pirit of Terra. saying. "I've lost a father and found this issue was made up, this month, Analyt1cal Laboratory contains insufficient
a new one. I ... I think I'd like what data and will be postponed, giving a double Laboratory next month.
TN Captain Brand's lounge there was you propose, D-dad<ly Brand. I'm sure
great rejoicing. A few minutes ago they I would.'' Tm;: EDITOR.