
In a future where humanity has colonized the Moon, a single spacecraft slices through the void, its pilot racing against time and the unforgiving physics of space. When a catastrophic accident at a lunar research facility leaves a child the sole survivor, an unscheduled rescue flight is launched, its crew battling failing radios, harsh acceleration, and the looming threat of re‑entry. The story opens in a bustling newsroom, where editors scramble to turn the desperate plea into a headline, while the pilot, Phil Mooney, fights to keep a fragile life alive en route to Earth.
Every transmission becomes a lifeline, and the tension builds as Mooney tries different spaceports, each reply a small mercy in a hostile vacuum. The narrative captures the cold, procedural side of space travel alongside the raw human urgency of saving a young girl whose parents perished in the blast. Listeners are drawn into a pulse‑pounding chase that blends hard‑science detail with the compassion that drives a lone hero to defy the odds.
Language
en
Duration
~21 minutes (20K 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
2020-12-05
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1917–1983
Known for big-idea science fiction with a practical, satirical edge, this prolific American writer explored politics, class, and economics long before those themes became common in the genre. His stories were especially popular in magazine science fiction from the 1950s through the 1970s.
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