
Clyde Vickers steps off a cramped gangplank onto Luna City’s bustling airlock, a parolee marked by the Interplanetary Security Patrol and haunted by his reputation as a mutant outcast. His strange, nictitating eyes set him apart, drawing suspicion and whispered fear from the crowd, while the cold breath of a departing spaceliner chills the thin lunar air around him. Bound by a strict parole that forces him back into the moon’s deep‑pit mines, Vickers must navigate a world that treats him as both a dangerous weapon and a disposable laborer.
Beneath his hardened exterior, however, a restless curiosity flickers. The city’s humming infrastructure, the scent of artificially recreated Earth, and the rumble of mining worms awaken a yearning for connection and purpose. As he confronts the daily indignities of a society that refuses to see past his mutation, Vickers begins to glimpse the thin line between survival and the chance for something more—if only he can find a way to step beyond the shadows of his past.
Language
en
Duration
~50 minutes (48K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2021-03-04
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1914–1975
Best known as a Kentucky historian, this versatile writer also built a lively side career in pulp science fiction and adventure magazines after serving in the Merchant Marine during World War II. His work moves easily between regional history, frontier subjects, and fast-paced speculative fiction.
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