
A routine deep‑space survey turns into a desperate gamble when the Olympus suffers a critical failure far beyond any known patrol route. Captain Theusaman must decide whether to risk a crash‑landing on an uncharted world that appears to mirror Earth’s atmosphere, hoping its mineral veins will replenish their dwindling fuel. His second‑in‑command, Baiel, argues for a quick rescue signal, fearing the crew’s survival more than the scientific prize.
The ship’s battered hull finally finds purchase on a frozen equatorial plain, leaving most of the crew alive but stranded amid icy ridges and volcanic outcrops. As they set up a makeshift camp, the captain grapples with a moral dilemma: can they teach the planet’s primitive inhabitants to rise beyond superstition, or will survival force them to abandon that ideal? The early hours on the alien surface set the stage for a tense clash of duty, hope, and the raw will to endure.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (57K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Space Publications, Inc.,1953.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.
Release date
2022-07-19
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1917–2001
A mid-century pulp storyteller with a sharp eye for speculative ideas, this American writer published dozens of short stories that mixed science fiction with the occasional mystery. His work appeared mainly in the 1950s, and several of his stories have stayed in circulation through public-domain archives and audiobook projects.
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