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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
2022-06-20
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1911–1981
A Golden Age science fiction writer with an engineer’s eye for detail, he built stories around communications systems, problem-solving, and life in space. He is especially remembered for the Venus Equilateral tales, which helped give mid-century magazine SF some of its brisk, technical charm.
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