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In the aftermath of a world where nuclear power forced every nation into a fragile politeness, humanity united under the Terran Union and turned its gaze to the Red Planet. Colonists built a new frontier on Mars, but distance and evolving cultures eventually drove the Martian Combine apart, sparking a series of interplanetary wars. By the third conflict, weapons had become bizarrely sophisticated, and a single daring act by a small group halted a catastrophe that could have reshaped the solar system.
Now, in the quiet pre‑dawn of a massive space station, Colonel Ralph Lindsay is jolted awake by an urgent transmission. A high‑velocity “robomb”—a weapon of unprecedented speed—has slipped through defenses and is on a collision course with the Mojave outpost. As alarms sound and colleagues scramble, Lindsay must decide whether to intercept the threat or watch a new chapter of interstellar tension unfold. The stakes are immediate, the tension palpable, and the outcome will shape the fragile peace that has barely held together for a century.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (82K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Street & Smith Publications, Incorporated,1946.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
Jun 20, 2022
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1911–1981
A pioneering Golden Age science fiction writer, George O. Smith combined an electronics engineer’s knowledge with stories about communication, invention, and life in space. He is best remembered for the inventive Venus Equilateral series, which began with his 1942 debut in Astounding Science-Fiction.
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