
A battered flagship drifts toward a lone, cloud‑shrouded world orbiting a dying red sun. With their engines faltering and the fleet crippled, Commander Thettumir must decide whether to risk a hazardous landing for the materials needed to keep the crew alive. The planet’s dense gray veil hints at a breathable atmosphere, yet the very clouds that promise survival also threaten a deadly descent.
Inside the ship, tensions run high. Memories of a lost, coveted colony and the looming threat of revolution on their homeworld press on Thettumir’s mind, while his second‑in‑command, Kasthel, brings urgent news that could reshape loyalties. As the crew prepares for a cautious orbital approach, the story balances gritty technical challenges with the uneasy politics of a war‑torn empire, setting the stage for a tense, exploratory saga on an alien frontier.
Language
en
Duration
~21 minutes (20K 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
2020-12-28
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1921–1990
A busy, dependable voice from the pulp-era boom, he helped fill the pages of mid-century science fiction magazines with fast-moving adventures, strange worlds, and eerie ideas. His stories first reached readers in the early 1940s and still turn up in reprints and public-domain collections today.
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