1955 10.pdf

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RETURNING TO SPACE STATION-One of the moon shuttle-ships
(see front cover and May 1954 issue) is here shown leaving Moon
for return to the space station, which is located outside gravita-
tional pull of the Earth, for more freight. These cargo ships are
built entirely on the space station and operate solely on this shuttle
route. Navigating in a vacuum, the fins serve only as fuel tanks for
control rockets and for landing gear mechanism. Some scientists
contend that the sphere is the only practical design for a space
ship-whether to the moon or anywhere else.
WORLDS o f SCIEN CE FICTION
O C T O B E R 1955
A ll Stories New and Complete
E ditor: JAM ES L . Q U IN N
Assist. E ditors: EVE W U LFF, R O B E R T W . GREENE
A rt E ditor: ED V A L IG U R S K Y
IMUUIfe
NOVELETTE
THE ALMOST-MEN
by
living
E.
Cox,
Jr.
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3
3
SHORT STORIES
PRISONERS OF EARTH
by Robert F. Young
THE PROXIES
by Arthur Sellings
JUVENILE DELINQUENT
by Edwand W . Ludwig
SLOW BURN
by Henry Still
LAST RITES
by Charles Beaumont
MEETING OF THE BOARD
by A lan E. Nourse
38
48
64
72
88
99
I
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FEATURES
WORTH CITING
W HAT IS YOUR SCIENCE I.Q.?
SCIENCE BRIEFS
HUE AND CRY
COVER:
"M o o n Cargo Ships" by Ed Valigursky
47
112
113
117
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IF is published bi-monthly by Quinn Publishing Company, Inc. Volum e 5, N o. €.
Copyright 1955 by Quinn Publishing C o ., Inc. O ffice o f publication, 8 Lora Street,
Buffalo, New York. Entered as Second Class M atter at Post Office, Buffalo, New
York. Subscription S3.50 for 12 issues in U .S. and Possessions; Canada $4 for 12
issues; elsewhere $4.50. Allow four weeks for change o f address. All stories appear­
ing in th is' magazine are fiction; any similarity to actual persons is coincidental.
N ot responsible for unsolicited artwork o r manuscripts. 35c a copy. Printed in U .S.A .
EDITORIAL A N D BUSINESS OFFICES, KINGSTON, NEW YORK
N e x t issue o n sale O cto b er 1 2 t b
All learning must begin with a need. A n d when the tried
old ideas won’t work for a people
—
won’t conquer defeat
and despair— a new way of thinking must be found . . .
THE A L M O S T - M E N
BY I R V I N G E. COX, JR.
Illu s tra te d by P a u l O rb a n
H
ANDS S H O O K at his shoulder,
dragging him awake. Lanny’s
foster father was bent over him,
whispering urgently, “ Get up, boy.
We have to leave.”
Groggily Lanny pushed himself
into a sitting position. He had been
sleeping in his earth burrow beside
Gill, outside Juan’s cottage. Hazily
Lanny remembered being carried
home from the canyon after the ex­
plosion, but he could recall noth­
ing else.
It was an hour before dawn. Gill
was dressing; his shoulder was
wrapped in a homespun bandage.
2
Lanny got up, staggering a little,
and helped his brother put on his
leather jacket and his weapon belt.
“ Thanks, Lan,” his brother said.
Lanny touched the bandage.
“ Shouldn’t you heal the cells, Gill?”
“ I have to expose it to the sun
first. I didn’t catch it soon enough
last night, and too many germs in­
fested the wound.” T o their foster
father, Gill added, “ I still think you
should leave me here. I may not— ”
“ Y ou’ re both my responsibility,”
Juan Pendillo answered. “ W e’ll sur­
vive together, Gill, or die together.”
“ What happened?” Lanny asked
as he pulled on his breeches and
pushed his stone knife and his
wooden club through the loops of
his weapon belt.
Silently Juan pointed toward the
dawn sky. High above them Lanny
heard the whine of a score of enemy
police spheres. “ They insist on the
surrender of all eight hunters who
went out last night.”
Gill said, “ But Tak Laleen killed
Barlow with her energy gun. Why
are they blaming us?”
“ Barlow was working for them as
a spy,” Lanny put in. It was a con­
venient explanation, but vaguely he
knew he was lying. He felt a pang of
guilt, but he couldn’t understand
why. What had he done that he
should be ashamed of?
What had happened last night?
Lanny wracked his brain, trying to
remember.
Eight hunters had been sent out
to bring in a cache of rifles which
Lanny’s brother, Gill, had found in
the rubble of Santa Barbara. It was
risky business, because under the
terms of the surrender treaty men
were prohibited the use of all metals
in the prison compounds. But the
younger generation— boys like Lan­
ny and Gill, born since the in­
vasion— were more fiercely deter­
mined to resist the Almost-men
than their elders. Armed with fifty
rifles, they thought they would be
strong enough to attack the Chapel
of the Triangle.
The Almost-men: the children
had coined the word, subtly assert­
ing the pride of man. Yet they knew
it was a semantic trick they played
upon themselves. It changed noth-
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