
A decaying starship drifts through the void, its corridors haunted by a strange, multicolored flame that flickers like living fire. As the crew of the Denebola returns from a three‑year survey of the asteroid belt, long‑suppressed tensions begin to surface, and a mutiny that has been simmering beneath the surface finally erupts. Officer Cargole, wounded and wary, slips through hidden passages to decide where his loyalty lies—among the beleaguered officers trying to maintain order or the desperate mutineers threatening chaos.
Amid the cold darkness, the enigmatic flames appear in engine rooms and storage bays, accompanied by inexplicable leaks of hydrogen and disappearing tools. The ship’s captain, a seasoned veteran, struggles to keep his men grounded while the mysterious phenomenon feeds paranoia and fear. Listeners will be drawn into a tense, claustrophobic battle of sanity versus the unknown, where every creak of the hull could signal the next spark of rebellion.
Language
en
Duration
~37 minutes (36K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2020-03-31
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1907–1991
A quiet but memorable voice from early science fiction and fantasy magazines, he wrote inventive stories that appeared in classic pulps like Amazing Stories, Wonder Stories, and Unknown. His best-known book, The Mislaid Charm, helped launch Prime Press in 1947.
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