The Golden Age Of Science Fiction Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The Golden Age Of Science Fiction novel. A total of 1755 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : The Golden Age of Science Fiction.An Anthology of 50 Short Stories.by Various.VOL I.A ST
The Golden Age of Science Fiction.An Anthology of 50 Short Stories.by Various.VOL I.A STRANGE Ma.n.u.sCRIPT FOUND IN A COPPER CYLINDER.
By James De Mille CHAPTER I.THE FINDING OF THE COPPER CYLINDER.It occurred as far back as February 15, 1850. It happene
- 1201 He sat up, feeling dizzy from having hit the ground with such force. "I don't guess I was much help," he said weakly. "You sure did a fine job." His head ached, but the remembered the fight and being thrown by the impact of the bl
- 1202 "I hadn't heard about that," Miles said, as the general returned to his chair and picked up his drink again."Yes. They'll need something better than these thatched huts when the storms start, and working on them will keep them out
- 1203 Then he relaxed while they argued in respectfully subdued voices. Finally one decrepit oldster, wearing a cloak of yellow ribbons and carrying a highly obscene and ineffably sacred wooden image, was brought forward and installed on the front-and-center cu
- 1204 The shoonoon had been watching the fighting in the viewscreens. Then somebody noticed that the spot of light on the navigational globe was approaching a coastline, and they all rushed forward for a look.Travis and Edith slept for a while; when they return
- 1205 As you know, this is but the latest of a series of such disappearances, beginning about five years ago, when the Khak.u.m River question first arose.Your utmost activity in this matter is required.Dzhoubinsky Amba.s.sador Krylenkoff to Foreign Minister Dz
- 1206 Burckhardt hesitated, and then recognized him. It was a casual acquaintance named Swanson. Burckhardt sourly observed that he had already missed the bus.He said, "h.e.l.lo."Swanson's face was desperately eager. "Burckhardt?" he as
- 1207 "After we what?" Mary was looking more than merely alarmed."After we blew the lights out. You know, when the switch at the head of the stairs stuck. I went down to the cellar and--"Mary sat up in bed. "Guy, the switch didn't
- 1208 The pictures seemed to have little in common. One was a store, where a girl dressed like April Horn was demonstrating home freezers. One was a series of shots of kitchens. Burckhardt caught a glimpse of what looked like the cigar stand in his office build
- 1209 "Please!" begged Swanson incoherently, prostrate before the steel robot. "He would have shot you--please don't hurt me! Let me work for you, like that girl. I'll do anything, anything you tell me--"The robot voice said. "
- 1210 "Happily, I don't feel in the same spot," Jim said. He got up and went to the picture window that took up one entire wall. It faced out over a mountain vista. He looked soberly into the sky.Vovo joined him, gla.s.s in hand."Possibly yo
- 1211 "A few smugglers and confidence men I've had connections with. Fairly good boys for this sort of thing. Then there's an old millionaire sportsman, with a party of six, waiting to transfer to the Camelot for a safari on Jontarou. Old Philmar
- 1212 The conference room was big and spa.r.s.ely furnished. Four men sat at the long table in its center. Quillan knew two of them--Marras Cooms, second in command of the Beldon Brotherhood's detachment here, and the Duke of Fluel, Movaine's personal
- 1213 "What was he doing there?""Well, sir, he came from Hyles-Frisian. He was a crim ... he'd been engaged in some form of piracy, and when the authorities began looking for him, he decided it would be best to get clean out of the Hub. He c
- 1214 "Another thing," Quillan said, "Cooms may have the old trick in mind of working from the top down. If he can take you out along with a few other key men, he might have this outfit demoralized to the point of making up for the difference in
- 1215 He paused to scuff his shoe over the mark the cigarette had left on the carpet, went on, "But there's Nome Lancion now. He kind of liked Cooms, and he might get suspicious. When there's a sudden vacancy in the organization like that. Nome t
- 1216 "Let's see if you can stand."Quillan helped the big man to his feet. Baldy hadn't bled too much outwardly, but he seemed to have estimated his own condition correctly. He wasn't for long. Quillan slid an arm under his shoulders.&q
- 1217 He reached out and tapped his gla.s.s with a fingertip. "That about you, doll. You filled it. I'm drinking it. I may not think quite as fast as you do, but I still think. Would I take a drink from a somewhat lawless and very clever lady who real
- 1218 "Unless what?""Unless he had a pretty effective defense," the psychiatrist finished unhappily.Cercy walked across the room and looked at the video panel. The Amba.s.sador's suite was very special. It had been hurriedly constructed
- 1219 "Not yet," Cercy replied tonelessly."Don't forget to read the philosophy," the Amba.s.sador urged them.The men hurried from the room."Now look," Malley said, once they were back in the control room, "there are a few
- 1220 "Sure. Water hasn't any shape, has it? Or has it? What's basic?"With an effort, Harrison tried to focus on Cercy's words. "Molecular pattern? The matrix?""Matrix," Cercy repeated, yawning himself. "Pattern
- 1221 "Dangerous," Zikkara pointed out. "No one hunts the Cytha.""I do," Duncan said, speaking now in the native language. "I hunt anything that damages my crop. A few nights more of this and there would be nothing left."
- 1222 He worked the mechanism and the spent cartridge case flew out. The feeding mechanism snicked and the fresh sh.e.l.l clicked as it slid into the breech.He lay for a moment, watching. And on the knoll where the thing had fallen, the gra.s.s was twitching as
- 1223 "We aren't turning back. If there's something that you know--something that would help us...."It was as close as he could come to begging aid. It was further than he had meant to go. He should not have asked at all, he thought angrily.
- 1224 The trail lay plain and clear. The Cytha now, it seemed, was intent upon piling up a lead without recourse to evasive tactics. Perhaps it had reasoned that its pursuers would lose some time at the river and it may have been trying to stretch out that marg
- 1225 But it never reached him. Less than a yard away, the ground opened up to take the Cytha and it was no longer there.Suddenly the wind cut off and the leaves once more hung motionless and the heat clamped down again and that was the end of it. The skun had
- 1226 The Cytha had obviously pa.s.sed the word along: Man back there needs killing. Go and get him.Just like that, for a Cytha would be the power here. A life force, the giver of life, the decider of life, the repository of all animal life on the entire planet
- 1227 Cam's car materialized at the curb, and he hustled the sodden Ev into its dark, merciful confines."Granted that this entire affair is not some outre hoax ... a possibility on which I don't entirely close the door ... your 'merchandise&
- 1228 "Special buses will take them to closed circuit 3-D houses," said Cam."Fantastic," said Ev.Inside, there were just about the same number of last-minute panics and snafus as at most 3-D spectaculars. Power for the innumerable huge coaxi
- 1229 The next instant Penrun was through the door and racing down the long promenade deck under the glow of the electric lights, for the quartering sun was s.h.i.+ning on the opposite side of the s.h.i.+p. Far down the deck ahead fled the slayer.The killer pau
- 1230 A rock loosened by his flying feet rattled and pounded down the hillside. Instantly the monsters whirled round, sighted him and started in pursuit. With a mighty leap he cleared a ten-foot ledge, carrying his unconscious burden, and plunged into the shelt
- 1231 "We got only a small portion of the treasure, but it will be enough," said Penrun. "After we pay your family's debt, I want to spend a hundred thousand or so for a specially chartered battle-sphere which will come back here to t.i.tan.
- 1232 After a fas.h.i.+on. Jrann-Pttt yawned and rose. But why are we sitting here? Let's start back to our camp. We will be able to converse more comfortably.They made their way through the jungle--now walking, now wading where the mud became water. Small
- 1233 "I can and I do," Jrann-Pttt replied, haughtily squeegeeing his wet scales. "All I said was that a storm might be coming up and it might be dangerous. How was I to know it would last only half an hour?""Even the camp stools pulled
- 1234 "Look," Mortland exclaimed in delight as they attained the top of the ridge, "here are some dryish twigs! Don't suppose the trees want them, since they've let them fall. If I can get a fire going, we could boil some swamp water an
- 1235 He efficiently deployed the personnel to the positions on the raft where he felt they might be least useless, the gear being piled in the middle and surmounted by Algol, who naturally a.s.sumed possession of the softest and safest place by the divine righ
- 1236 None of them answered. There was only the faint thrumming of the rockets lowering the old s.h.i.+p to Earth."Let me be sure I have your ident.i.ties right," went on Colonel Halter.He then looked at the man on the captain's right. "You,
- 1237 "You've come back. You're in port. You're not in complete command.""I'll always be in command.""Perhaps," said Halter quietly. "However, we can come back to that. Please brief me on the records."
- 1238 Crowley reached forward, grasping McClelland's shoulder. The gun swung toward him. A stream of light squirted into his middle. Crowley fell forward, pulling the captain down with him. The three other oldsters were above the three black figures sprawl
- 1239 My mind was now in turmoil. "What," I demanded, "what did they decide?"Erics frowned. "Nothing. They could not answer the question. Every available answer was equally right and proved every other right answer wrong. As you know, p
- 1240 "Of course, of course. Well, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Jenkins. I hope to see you again soon." They walked back to Allenby's not-very-late model car and shook hands. Allenby drove away.On the way back to the hot
- 1241 "You can't lay a hand on me. No robot can."The robot moved forward. Two metal hands held Johnny Malone. Johnny Malone kicked the robot's legs. It hurt his toes. "We were made to teach the children. We can do what is necessary to t
- 1242 Well, it was. After a few moments I was able to give my full attention to the phenomena of the att.i.tudinizor, and queer phenomena they were, too. I scarcely know how to describe the sensation of looking at the world through the filter of another's
- 1243 "Hah!" barked a voice behind us. I swung around, to face Chief of Police Dalton of Carron City. He came straight toward me, his purplish jowls quivering with rage, and his finger jabbed the air in front of my face."You built them, Don Morri
- 1244 The Army would put an end to the strike, easily enough. It would wiped out every android in the neighborhood, and probably a good many human beings careless enough to get in the way. I sat hoping that the 5A's would give in, but they didn't. The
- 1245 Perhaps that is the penalty of becoming old. From commander of the Budi, one of the greatest of the Special Patrol s.h.i.+ps, to the duties of recording ancient history, for younger men to read and dream about. That is a shrewd blow to one's pride.Bu
- 1246 "Yes. You propose to land, sir?""I propose to determine the fate of those two s.h.i.+ps and the men who brought them here," I said with sudden determination. Dival made no reply, but as he turned to obey orders, I saw that his presenti
- 1247 I nodded, and Wilson continued."Commander McClellan was a choleric person, as courageous a man as ever wore the blue and silver of the Service, and very thoughtful of his men. We had had a bad trip; two swarms of meteorites that had worn our nerves t
- 1248 Keeter: Well, let's see. First there's the fuel test.Humper: Fuel test?Keeter: Let me explain, all very simple really. Let's take the case of a planet that seems to be qualified for Federation members.h.i.+p in every respect but one. They d
- 1249 Golden Age of Science Fiction.Vol XI.by Various.RING ONCE FOR DEATH.By Robert Arthur The power of the old G.o.ds was certainly nothing for Mark and Edith--a modern, twentieth-century couple--to worry about. After all--everybody dies!Twenty years had left
- 1250 "Bill," he said. "Can you bring my car around to Number Three?"The tiny face in the hand-screen grinned sheepishly. "Mr. Collins, ain't it? Gee, I'm sorry, Mr. Collins. Night crew took on a new man, he must have futzed a
- 1251 He'd never broken himself of the habit. He still looked to the left every morning, just as he had today. But there was no window any more. There was only a blank wall. And beyond it, the smog and the clamor and the crowds.Window-gla.s.s. Wilmer-Klibb
- 1252 It was some time before he ventured to comment on the situation. "Manschoff is a d.a.m.ned good diagnostician," he murmured. Then he sat up. "Are you a patient here?"She shook her head. "Don't ask questions, Harry. Can't
- 1253 So was Harry Collins' face, when he emerged from his interview with Dr. Manschoff that evening. And it was still pallid the next afternoon when he came down to the river bank and waited for Ritchie to reappear.The little man emerged from the bushes.
- 1254 The gray smile returned to the gray lips. "Suicide? What do you know about suicide, Art? I've been reading a few statistics on that, too. How many actual suicides do you think we had in this country last year?""A hundred thousand? Two
- 1255 "What are you talking about? What's all this got to do with us, or having a kid?""Don't you see? Taking these shots, having a baby this new way-it's sort of being a pioneer, too. Gonna help bring a new kind of people into a n
- 1256 Harry gazed into the wide eyes. He couldn't speak."You're sick, aren't you?" the child persisted. "Let me call the doctor. He can help you."Harry swung the rifle around. "I'll give you just ten seconds to clear
- 1257 "Where's your Underground?" Richard Wade demanded."My what?""Your Underground," Wade repeated. "h.e.l.l, every science fiction yarn about a future society had its Underground! That was the whole gimmick in the plot.
- 1258 "I don't believe it. I can't!""All right. Think back. That was last year. And since the first of this year, what's happened to the standard size meat-ration?""They cut it in half," Eric admitted. "But that
- 1259 But there was progress, in the main. Eventually Banning joined the group, from the ranch, and under his guidance the study-system was formalized. Attempts were made to project the future situation, to prepare for the day when it would be possible to ventu
- 1260 "Normal women?"Thurmon sighed, then reached over and placed a scroll in the scanner. "I have already gone into that question with research technicians," he said. "And I have the figures here." He switched on the scanner and b
- 1261 He opened the unmarked door at the end of the corridor, entered a small reception room, smiled uncertainly at the woman behind the desk, and received an answering smile in return.Come right in, Dr. Kennon. Mr. Alexander is waiting for you.Alexander! The e
- 1262 Flora was a great green oval two hundred kilometers long and about a hundred wide."Pretty, isn't it?" Alexander said as they sped over the low range of hills and the single gaunt volcano filling the eastward end of the island and swept over
- 1263 Douglas Alexander was a puffy-faced youngster with small intolerant eyes set in folds of fat above a b.u.t.ton nose and a loose-lipped sensual mouth. There was an odd expression of defiance overlaid with fear on his pudgy features. Looking at him, Kennon
- 1264 "Nice, isn't it?" Alexander remarked as they rounded another turn on the switchback path."Yes. You can't hear a sound from back there except for that generator. It's almost as though we shut those people out of existence by m
- 1265 Photographs and tri-dis would have to be taken, the parasite would have to be identified and its sensitivity to therapy determined. Studies would have to be made on its life cycle, and the means by which it gained entrance to its host. It wouldn't be
- 1266 It was behind him, Kennon decided. He rolled over with a groan of protest and looked at his tormentor. A gasp of dismay left his lips, for standing beside the bed, a half smile on her pointed face, was Copper -- looking fresh and alert and as disturbing a
- 1267 "You've eaten synthetic," Blalok replied. "What do you prefer?"Kennon had to agree that Blalok was right. He, too, liked the real thing far better than its imitations."If it's this profitable, then why sell Lani?" K
- 1268 Kennon chuckled. "I hope he'll appreciate the bill he gets.""He thinks we can use local labor," Blalok said gloomily. "I wish he'd realize that Lani are technological morons.""They could learn.""I sup
- 1269 "Another practice alert." The trooper's voice was bored. "It gets so that you'd almost wish for a fight to relieve the monotony."A trooper and several Lani came down the corridor, running in disciplined formation. Steel clang
- 1270 Kennon told him."You mean you took George!" Arleson said."Look in his cell if you don't believe me."The soldier looked and then turned hack to Kennon. There was awed respect in his hard brown eyes. "You did that! -- to him! M
- 1271 "Hey! what's this?" Kennon asked curiously. "That crater looks peculiar, like a meteor had struck here -- but those stunted plants -- hmm -- there must have been some radioactivity too." He looked at the crater speculatively. &quo
- 1272 Two hours brought them back to the volcanic area, and knowing what to look for, Kennon located the pockmarked mountain valley. From the air it looked completely ordinary. Kennon was amazed at the perfection of the natural camouflage. The Pit was merely an
- 1273 "Don't you understand? All Lani are human. You all are the descendants of two humans who came here thousands of years ago.""Then there is no reason why you cannot love me."Kennon shook his head. "No," he said. "Ther
- 1274 "I was.""You through now?""Yes.""Well, get up to the fortress. Alexander just flew in and he's calling a meeting. Something important has come up."Something important! A wave of ice rattled down Kennon's s
- 1275 Blalok shrugged."But in the meantime I want you to keep an eye on Kennon. If his outline is all right, I'm going to authorize him to set up this experiment. I want to give him every possible chance. I like him -- and he's done good work. I
- 1276 Douglas hadn't been impressed with Blalok's attempt at a delaying action. Normally he might have been, but his fear of his cousin was greater than his respect for Blalok. The superintendent had only succeeded in accomplis.h.i.+ng something he ha
- 1277 "Hold it!" Kennon barked. "I don't want to kill you, but I'll burn a hole clear through your rotten carca.s.s if you make another move. I have no love for your kind."Douglas spat contemptuously. "You haven't got the
- 1278 "I have my reasons -- but they have nothing to do with medicine.""Oh -- I see. Ethical." The interne's voice was faintly sarcastic."Manners, Doctor -- manners." Kennon's voice was gentle but the interne flushed a du
- 1279 "If necessary. But I don't think it will take that long. She has some schooling.""But no training -- and what of the Lani in the meantime?""I have plans for that. I'm going back to Kardon and give Alexander a chance to m
- 1280 "Fine -- she's healthy as a horse."Kennon winced at the cliche It was so ancient that it had lost all meaning. Most Betans didn't know what a horse was, let alone whether it was healthy or not. From what Kennon could remember of veteri
- 1281 "You just think you have," Alexander said gleefully. "That's what you have forgotten. You've gotten your agreement -- now you will satisfy me. As I see it you have breached your contract by leaving Flora without authorization.&quo
- 1282 CHAPTER IV.To facilitate my progress in the language of Mizora I was sent to their National College. It was the greatest favor they could have conferred upon me, as it opened to me a wide field of knowledge. Their educational system was a peculiar one, an
- 1283 She inclined her head significantly. "It will be repeated," she said sadly, "unless you educate them. Give their bright and active minds the power of knowledge. They will use it wisely, for their own and their country's welfare."I
- 1284 If the admirable economy with which every species of work was carried on in Mizora could be thoroughly comprehended, the universality of luxuries need not be wondered at. They were drilled in economy from a very early period. It was taught them as a virtu
- 1285 In the journeys that Wauna and I took during the college vacation, we were constantly meeting strangers, but they never appeared the least surprised at my dark hair and eyes, which were such a contrast to all the other hair and eyes to be met with in Mizo
- 1286 "I am," she replied."And would you object to giving me a condensed recital of it?""Not if it can do you any good?""What has become of their descendants--of those portraits?""They became extinct thousands of yea
- 1287 "I shall take Disease first," she said, "as it is a near relative of Crime. You look surprised. You have known life-long and incurable invalids who were not criminals. But go to the squalid portion of any of your large cities, where Poverty
- 1288 "I am an atom of Nature;" said Wauna, gravely. "If you want me to answer your superst.i.tious notions of religion, I will, in one sentence, explain, that the only religious idea in Mizora is: Nature is G.o.d, and G.o.d is Nature. She is the
- 1289 I have described the peculiar ceremony attending the burial of youth in Mizora. Old age, in some respects, had a similar ceremony, but the funeral of an aged person differed greatly from what I had witnessed at the grave of youth. Wauna and I attended the
- 1290 "Hey, Cargill, you can talk their lingo. What's going on out there?"I stepped out past the gateway to listen. There was still no one to be seen in the square. It lay white and windswept, a barricade of emptiness; to one side the s.p.a.cepor
- 1291 From the s.p.a.ceport gates, exchanging brief greetings with the guards, I took a last look at the Kharsa. For a minute I toyed with the notion of just disappearing down one of those streets. It's not hard to disappear on Wolf, if you know how. And I
- 1292 "I know. Another thing, too. If we send out s.p.a.ceforce, after all the riots--how many Terrans are on this planet? A few thousand, no more. What chance would we have, if it turned into a full-scale rebellion? None at all, unless we wanted to order
- 1293 But in this poor light he had not recognized me. I moved deliberately into the full red glow. If he did not know me for the Terran he had challenged last night in the s.p.a.ceport cafe, it was unlikely that anyone else would. He stared at me for some minu
- 1294 Still Kyral did not move, but held the three fingers out for a full minute. Finally he dropped them and bent to pick up the case instruments. Again the little swirl in the air, and the instruments vanished. In their place lay three of the blue gems. My mo
- 1295 So I repeated: "I will bet shegri with you."And Kyral stood unmoving.For what the shegrin wagers is his courage and endurance in the face of torture and an unknown fate. On his side, the stakes are clearly determined beforehand. But if he loses,
- 1296 "Can you swallow this?"I could and did. I couldn't taste it yet, but it was cold and wet and felt heavenly trickling down my throat. She bent and looked into my eyes, and I felt as if I were falling into those reddish and stormy depths. She
- 1297 I spat blood, trying to get the room in focus. For I was inside a room, a room of some translucent substance, windowless, a skylight high above me, through which pink daylight streamed. Daylight--and it had been midnight in Charin! I'd come halfway a
- 1298 I found myself seized and frog-marched to the gate. One guard pushed my skean back into its clasp. The other shoved me hard, and I stumbled, fell sprawling in the dust of the cobbled street, to the accompaniment of a profane statement about what I could e
- 1299 "Suppose you tell me what's really going on," I suggested. She couldn't add much to what I knew already, but the last fragments of the pattern were beginning to settle into place. Rakhal, seeking the matter transmitter and some key to
- 1300 "Son of the Ape! Get your skean out, you stinking coward!""I won't do it, Rakhal." I stood and defied him. I had outmaneuvered Dry-towners in a shegri bet. I knew Rakhal, and I knew he would not knife an unarmed man. "We foug