
This star shall be free
In a mist‑shrouded river valley of prehistoric Europe, a young cave‑dweller named Tork spends his days fishing and watching the uneasy power struggles of his tribe. One afternoon a massive, silent ovoid of gleaming metal hovers above the treetops, its surface mirroring the world in a disquieting, shifting pattern. The sight freezes Tork in terror, a primal fear that his people cannot name, and the alien craft drifts onward without a sound.
The brief encounter leaves the tribe rattled, their simple lives suddenly brushed by a presence that hints at forces far beyond stone and river. As Tork returns to his fire and his catch, a shy girl named Berry joins him, offering a glimpse of ordinary life trying to resume after an extraordinary interruption. The story balances the raw immediacy of early human survival with the unsettling suggestion that an ancient experiment may be shaping the fate of these people, inviting listeners to wonder what lies hidden in the stars above.
Language
en
Duration
~42 minutes (40K characters)
Release date
Sep 10, 2025
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1896–1975
Writing as Murray Leinster, William Fitzgerald Jenkins became one of science fiction’s most versatile and influential pioneers. His imaginative stories explored parallel worlds, space travel, computers, and first contact decades before many of those ideas became familiar.
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