
A remote desert outpost guards the runway for Project Breakaway, the Air Force’s daring attempt to launch a vehicle that could escape Earth’s pull. Lieutenant Colonel Martin oversees the quiet patrol of jets, but a routine day turns chaotic when a strange, plate‑shaped object blazes across the sky, prompting an unauthorized high‑speed chase. The three captains leading the pursuit vanish without a trace, their aircraft inexplicably slamming into a distant ridge, leaving Martin as the sole survivor.
Now high‑ranking officials descend on the base, demanding answers and pressing Martin to recount the impossible flight. As he struggles to explain the baffling maneuver and the eerie sighting, tension builds between duty, secrecy, and the unsettling possibility that something beyond human control has intervened. Listeners are pulled into a tense, atmospheric mystery that hangs between military protocol and the unknown.
Language
en
Duration
~17 minutes (16K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Better Publications, Inc.,1954.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.
Release date
2022-10-23
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1920–2007
A prolific American writer of science fiction, suspense, and horror, he published more than 200 short stories and became especially known for tales that mixed everyday settings with a sudden jolt of the uncanny. His work appeared in major magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, and was later gathered in the paperback collection Island of Fear and Other Science Fiction Stories.
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