
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Awakening on a dimly lit deck of an alien star‑ship, a battle‑scarred mercenary finds himself alone among the bodies of friends he thought he would never lose. The only clue to his predicament is a strange purple gown and a humming cylinder that captures the dying memories of his companion. With no response from the ship’s silent consoles, he must piece together what happened and why a fleet of pale‑light hunters is closing in.
Fleeing through corridors that echo with the wreckage of his crew, he reaches a shuttle bay and ignites a lifeboat before the hunters can overwhelm him. The craft crashes onto a rugged, forest‑clad world where the only signs of civilization are a landing ring and a handful of bearded locals brandishing bronze swords. As the strangers stare, the mercenary realizes his fight for survival has only just begun.
Language
en
Duration
~5 hours (318K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
New York, NY: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1962.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2023-11-03
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1925–1993
Best known for the sharp-witted Retief stories and the influential Bolo tales, this American science fiction writer brought real military and diplomatic experience into fast, imaginative adventures. His work mixed satire, action, and big speculative ideas in a way that helped make him a standout voice in mid-20th-century SF.
View all books
by Keith Laumer

by Keith Laumer
by Keith Laumer

by Keith Laumer

by Keith Laumer

by Keith Laumer

by Keith Laumer

by Keith Laumer