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
- 401 Every man stopped in his tracks, listening. The annunciator continued. "Looks like it's decelerating, Captain."I holstered my pistol, pushed past Joyce, and trotted for the lift. The mob behind me broke up, talking, as men under long habit ran for acti
- 402 Mannion sent, got his reply. "They're molluscoid, Captain," he said. He looked shocked. "They weigh about two tons each.""Ask them what they eat," I said.I turned to Joyce as Mannion worked over the message. "Get Kramer up here, on the double," I
- 403 I ordered Joyce to lock his radar on target, and switch over to autopilot control. Then I called Power Section."I'm taking over all power control from the bridge," I said. "All personnel out of the power chamber and control chamber."The men were stil
- 404 I was beginning to realize that Thomas was not precisely a genius. "I can make it," I said."Cap'n," Thomas said diffidently, "it ain't none a my business, but don't you think maybe I better get the doctor for ya?""Thomas," I said, "maybe you d
- 405 "Then their transmission was crude. All they had was simple old-fas.h.i.+oned short-range radio, and even that was noisy and erratic. And their reception was as bad. We had to use a kilowatt before they could pick it up at 200 miles. We didnt know then i
- 406 Gusterson shrugged. "I don't know about that. I think bugs think."Fay groaned faintly. "Bugs operate by instinct, Gussy," he said. "A patterned routine. They do not scan situations and consequences and then make decisions.""I don't expect bugs to
- 407 "You're an immoral money-ravenous wench," Gusterson said absently, trying to dream of an insanity beyond insanity that would make his next novel a real id-rousing best-vender."If that's your vision of me, you shouldn't have chewed up the VV mask."
- 408 In his home habitat Gusterson was about as easy to handle as a rogue rhinoceros, but away from it--and especially if underground--he became more like a pliable elephant. All his bones dropped out through his feet, as he described it to Daisy. So now he su
- 409 Under cover of Fay's outburst a huge crowd of people had entered the room from the hall--eight, to be exact. But the weirdest thing about them to Gusterson was that from the first instant he had the impression that only one mind had entered the room and
- 410 "It's the dinies," said the president feebly. "They're a great trouble to us, sir. They're our great handicap.""Blather and nonsense!" snapped Sean O'Donohue. "They're no bigger than mice! Ye could've trapped 'em! Ye could've raised cats! D
- 411 "We're rich now," he said resignedly. "You'd be bound to learn it. D'you know what the dinies' teeth are made of?""It's been said," said President O'Hanrahan, "that it's bor ... boron carbide in organic form. What that means I wouldn't know
- 412 He ran his palm over the baby's smooth head, opened its mouth gently with his forefinger and looked inside.Sally rose on one elbow, her tormented eyes searching his face."He's your child, your son!" she sobbed. "A woman has a child and her husband co
- 413 "Yes, my son, I did try. But if I had attempted to feign emotions I did not feel your mother would have seen through the pretense. She would then have turned from me completely. Without her I could not have had you, my son.""And now, father, what will
- 414 Since the s.h.i.+p's refrigeration units would function perfectly until the outer hull reached a temperature of eleven hundred degrees Fahrenheit, none of its pa.s.sengers knew that anything was wrong. Even the members of the crew went through all the no
- 415 They all asked Ackerman Boone, who was an unofficial leader among them, what he was going to do. He rubbed his big fingers against the thick stubble of beard on his jaw and you could hear the rasping sound it made. Then he said, "Nothing, until we find o
- 416 It was this hatch or nothing. He thought it was the right one, but couldn't be sure. He could no longer see. His vision had gone completely. The pain was a numb thing now, far away, hardly a part of himself. Maybe Mayhem was absorbing the pain-sensation
- 417 B. C. 30,000.By Capt. S. P. Meek A scream of rage split the darkness. From the side of the fire where the women sat darted Esle, the High Priestess, a b.l.o.o.d.y bit of liver in her hand. Following her, and snarling like an enraged cat, came one of the m
- 418 "And I go with Anak!" cried Invar. "More than one of the cousins of Gumor will know that the Chief Hunter of the tribe of Ugar and his friend have visited their home."Uglik paused. No trace of fear entered his heart, but the wily politician saw the fo
- 419 "Uglik is a mighty warrior," said Invar doubtfully."So is Anak," was the reply. "Further, I have a plan.""Then are Uglik's days numbered," replied Invar with delight. "Tell me what I am to do to aid you.""When we get to the cave, you may cut o
- 420 But there weren't any more and two weeks later Cliff, Steena and Bat brought the Empress into the Lunar quarantine station. And that is the end of Steena's story because, as we have been told, happy marriages need no chronicles. And Steena had found som
- 421 She looked up at him. "Do you have any idea?""Sure, I've got an idea. A crazy one, but an idea. I don't think he wanted me because of the writing. I think he wanted me because I'm a propagandist."She scowled. "It still doesn't wash. There are lot
- 422 Shandor gave the door a shove with his shoulder, driving it open into the room. "Shut up," he said bluntly. He turned so the light struck his face, and the little man's jaw dropped in astonishment. "Shandor!" he whispered.Frank Mariel looked like a w
- 423 An angry voice snarled, "You up there, whoever you are, where'd you leave your brains? No civilian craft are allowed in the air, and that's orders straight from Was.h.i.+ngton. Don't you know there's a war on? Now get down here, before you're shot d
- 424 The conservatively dressed gentleman beside him wanted to know how long he expected to keep the show running."The crossroads will give out before long," he added."The sponsor'll give out first," I said. "History is just one d.a.m.n crossroads after
- 425 "We should be within a couple of hundred yards of the marker now," Troy announced as his short, chunky partner checked alongside. Alec nodded and peered through the curtain of sky-darkened snow just beyond the rock face. He could see powder spume whippi
- 426 "Thanks, Harry," Troy said. "We're going to take a walk uptown and get something to eat. If the chopper should get here sooner, tell him we'll be right back.""O.K.," the ranger said, "but there's a pot of coffee on the stove in the kitchen if yo
- 427 "They're O.K.," Alec said. "I told her to fill up everything in the house with water and I think she had time to get them filled before the water shut down. How bad is it?""It's not good," Troy said. "At this point, I don't think anyone knows ju
- 428 They turned and walked towards Harbrace's personal copter waiting beside the road a couple of hundred yards away.Without warning, the earth began to s.h.i.+ft beneath their feet and the trio staggered on the rolling surface. From deep within the ground c
- 429 With his feet clamped on the vertical wall of the pump housing and knees locked in a skier's stance, Troy handed over the first of the magnetic clamps. Alec took it and carefully clamped the end of the plastic explosive belt against the pile housing. The
- 430 "None of us do," Sheridan Hennessey said sourly. "Do you think any of us do?" He must have pressed a b.u.t.ton.From behind them the major's voice said briskly, "Will you come this way, Mr. Kuran?"In the limousine, on the way out to the airport, the
- 431 "Harvard," Paco said. He stretched widely. "Did you spot those Russian girls in the crew? Blond, every one blond." He grinned. "Not much time to operate with them--but enough."A voice behind them, heavy with British accent said, "Good afternoon, ge
- 432 Hank cleared his throat, didn't allow himself the luxury of a smile. He said, "I'll see what I can do, Char. Seems to me I did read somewhere that the Russkies see nothing wrong in putting strangers in the same sleeping compartment."Char Moore stood t
- 433 Paco grinned at him. "I'm a professional, too. A lawyer by trade. It's just a matter of different professions."A middle-aged pedestrian, pa.s.sing by, said to the girls in Russian, "Have you no shame before the foreign tourists?"They didn't bother
- 434 "If the KGB is already onto you, Henry Kuran, then you might as well give up. Your mission is already a failure.""I suppose so. Will you have a chair? Can I offer you a drink? My roommate has a bottle of Stolichnaya vodka which he brought from the boat
- 435 "He needs no a.s.sistance?""Nothing could help him for half an hour or more. Then he'll probably have a severe headache."The extraterrestrial had even the ability to achieve a dry quality in his voice. "I am surprised at your forebearance." He took
- 436 "Okay," said Sam. "That's that."But it wasn't, and he knew it. Even as he went about preparing his traps, he knew it.As it turned out, the only animals he caught in his traps were small ones which tore themselves in two and then scampered off, each
- 437 "Is anything the matter, Pop?""What? Oh, no, nothing's the matter. I was just thinking about what I read here.""They had an accident, didn't they? How did it happen?""It happened because their s.h.i.+p wasn't as good as ours. Julian Hagstrom, th
- 438 I guess Burt decided to ride along. "Okay, Yoris," he said. "Tell you what I'll do. For only one ton of Martian gold I'll agree to drop all plans for a pulp mill, here or anywhere else. In fact, I'll get out of business altogether."Doc moved in lik
- 439 Suddenly a screeching whirlwind of claws and teeth hurled itself from the smoldering branches and crashed against the robot, clawing insanely at the antenna and blaster barrel. With an awkward jerk the robot swung around and fired its blaster, completely
- 440 "Thank you," Whitlow sighed. "You're certainly running this thing--whatever it is--in an efficient manner.""Thank you!" General Webb glowed. "We like to think so," he added modestly.Pa.s.swords, signs, countersigns, combination-locks and electron
- 441 And the men of the Whirligig, all of whom had landed on the target head-first, did nothing, their magnificently muscled legs waving idly in a sudden gentle gust of desert breeze.THE END.Contents RESURRECTION.by ROBERT J. SHEA They had been cramped for s.
- 442 Micheals wasn't so sure. He walked around the periphery of the leech, asking himself what kind of substance would react that way. The answer was easy--no substance. No _known_ substance.The driver in the lead jeep held up his hand, and the long convoy gr
- 443 Finally, the stubby scout rocket was winging its way over New York. From the air, the grayish-black spot was easy to find. Like a festered wound, it stretched between Lake Placid and Elizabethtown, covering Keene and Keene Valley, and lapping at the edges
- 444 Contents THE CLEAN AND WHOLESOME LAND.By Ralph Sholto Utopia had been reached. All the problems of mankind had been solved. It was the perfect State. If you doubted it, you died.While Professor Cargill lectured from the rostrum, Neal Pardeau prowled the d
- 445 "Chief's been looking for you, Preston. It's time for you to get going on your run."Preston scowled. "Time to go deliver the mail, eh?" He spat. "Don't they have anything better to do with good s.p.a.cemen than make letter carriers out of them?"T
- 446 Hideous, thick creatures, lying coiled in ma.s.ses around the Dome. Preston checked his s.p.a.cesuit, making sure it was sealed. The instruments told him he was a bare ten miles above Ganymede now. One more swing around the poles would do it.He peered out
- 447 He settled back luxuriously on the worn cus.h.i.+ons of his car. Even so little as twenty years before, it would have been impossible for him--for anyone--to stop his vehicle in the middle of Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue purely to meditate. But it
- 448 "Hi. What're you doing?""We're looking at the dragon again," said Vera. "Join us?"Brunei thought of the dragon for a moment. The toadstool disappeared, and the by-now-familiar bovine dragon took its place. In the last few days, they had discovered
- 449 Vera grimaced. "But we've got to do something," she said. "We can't even make them disappear at all, any more. And it's becoming a full time job just to keep them outside the walls.""And sooner or later," interjected Lazar, "we're not going to
- 450 He pursued her as she ran, bowling over or trampling on the fear-stricken prisoners as they tried to scramble out of his way, men and women alike. But she made up in agility what she lacked in strength, lifting up the hem of her robe so that her legs twin
- 451 "I want to thank you," she said quietly, clearly, "for what you did for me and my brother, Mr.--""Finner. Quirl Finner. I have thought of you as Lenore, and wondered how you were. How long has it been since they took me out? You see--" he grinned,
- 452 "Say," Quirl said, taking Lenores hand and anxious to be rid of them, "if you find a little monkey-faced guy down in that hold, go easy with him. Hes a good man, too, and Im going to recommend his pardon."……
- 453 The Golden Age of Science Fiction.Volume V.An Anthology of 50 Short Stories.Various.OPERATION EARTHWORM. by Joe Archibald Here he is again, the irrepressible Septimus Spink, in a tale as rollicking as an elder giant juggling the stars and the planets in h
- 454 "The unhappy genii did," Doreen told me. "Like this." She flicked the catch back. The TV picture blacked out. The sound stopped in the middle of a word. The air conditioner whispered into silence.Then she flipped the catch the other way."--fouls the
- 455 I closed my eyes, trying to escape from color, but that was much worse. The colors inside my head blazed out even brighter, more savage.I turned my head, trying to find something in the cabin to look at that was not bright blue or green or red. With horro
- 456 "MacGuire," he said. "Tomorrow it's me."MacGuire chuckled. Farrel could have kicked him. He put his chin in his hands and stared out the port. Danny Stern had the log in place in the barricade. The bulldozer was moving on to a new task. His momentary
- 457 "This is true," replied Joyce, "only of guppies. Understand, Don, I don't mind changing my name from Carter to Mallory. In fact, I'd rather like to. But I have no desire whatever to be known to the neighbors as 'that poor little Mrs. Mallory in last
- 458 "Yes. Haven't you ever heard of Tapwater?""Oh, sure! That drip's running all the time!"Joyce tossed me a reproving glance."This is a matter of gravity, Donald," she stated, "and you keep treating it with levity. Sandy, do you really own Tapwater?
- 459 "They did," Carlstrom said. "They did--precisely. But the world, including us, was too stupid to see it. We have only ourselves to blame.""If it weren't for the fact that the work was inspired and effective," Christianson muttered, "we might have
- 460 Five o'clock in the evening of that same day came the news of another safe disappearance. Phil got his tip over the phone, and in fifteen minutes was at the scene. It was too much like the others to go into detail about; a six-foot portable safe had sudd
- 461 In the back of her mind there had been forming a vague sort of an idea, which had signalled ahead of itself that there was hope. She sat there and desperately drove her reason to its utmost efforts, to find that idea and bring it to the surface of conscio
- 462 "I am seventy-five years of age. I have, in this year 2004, been studying 'time' for thirty of those years. I have completed the first time machine ever built-and thus far, its construction, even the fact that it has been constructed, is my own secret.
- 463 "Now do you understand?" he asked Corinne. "A mechanical servant! Think of it! Of course ma.s.s production may be years away, but ...""Everyone will have Thursday nights off," said Corinne--but Ronald was already jabbing at b.u.t.tons as Pascal drag
- 464 The woman smiled to him."He's told you his name, I see."Marden lifted his hat."Indeed he has.""Michael is all right," she said. "I do think, though, that he reads too many Buck Gordon Interplanetary comic books for a boy of eleven." THE END.Conte
- 465 "And, by the way," he added, "I hope you like it in Puerto Pacifico. Because there isn't any place to go from here and there isn't any way to get there if there were.""Pardon me, gentlemen, but I'm Joe Valencia, manager of the hotel. I would be ve
- 466 COMPEt.i.tION.by James Causey They would learn what caused the murderous disease--if it was the last thing they did!GRETA.January 18, Earth Time I wish Max would treat me like a woman.An hour ago, at dinner, John Armitage proposed a toast, especially for
- 467 After eating, I went for a long walk. When I got back to the s.h.i.+p, everyone was sleeping.March 1 Bishop found Armitage this morning, in his cabin. He came out, very pale, staring at me."You b.i.t.c.h," he said. "Ear to ear. Now what'll I do for a
- 468 Morely measured the distance quickly, judging the instant when the other pilot would have to repitch his impellers and halt his downward rush. He allowed his own heavy s.h.i.+p to wallow earthward.Scant feet from ground surface, the sportster pilot flicke
- 469 Graham came forward and pulled a flat sheet from the range, then opened an access door at the front of the stove.Morely peered inside, then thrust a hand in. For a moment, he groped around, then he pulled his hand out and looked at it. It was clean. He sn
- 470 Elaine walked to the door. She stepped out into the corridor and walked down the steps."All right?""Perfect! Try the parking lot. Close the door."She went out of the quarters, crossed the areaway, and stood under the landing slot. Far overhead, a segm
- 471 The door opened and the clerk stood, respectfully awaiting orders."Send in Bond and the people with him."The clerk stepped back, turning his head."You may go in now, sir." He disappeared around the door.Harold Bond stepped through the doorway, followe
- 472 He went through the corridor to the elevator, and stepped in, smiling contentedly. The morning hadn't been entirely wasted.As he got out of the elevator on executive level, he glanced at his watch. It wasn't quite time for lunch, but there would be litt
- 473 DeVore held out the letter. "You wanted to see me, sir, about this." He placed the paper within the reach of his superior, who s.n.a.t.c.hed at it, held it up for a moment, then dropped it to his desk."Yes, I did. What can we do about it?""Why," DeV
- 474 Moran grinned. "You're so right. There was a whole bunch of kids standing around. Looked like dozens of 'em. And they were all chanting at the top of their voices. You know that old jingle? 'Howie's got a gir-rul?' Chanted it over and over." The gr
- 475 Suddenly Alan burst out, "I know what father's secret was! I can piece it together now, from little things that were meaningless when I was a kid. He invented the electro-microscope. You know that. The infinitely small fascinated him. I remember he once
- 476 Glora whispered, "Do not move! I have the drugs. But I can not give them to you when I am still so small. I have not enough. I will hide--there." Her little arm gestured to where, near us, half a dozen boxes were piled. "When I am large as you, I come
- 477 We started walking. The railing around the slab was knee-high. The slab itself was a broad, square surface. The fragment of golden quartz lay in its center. It was now a jagged lump nearly a foot in diameter.The platform seemed to s.h.i.+ft as we walked;
- 478 "My world," Glora was saying. "You like it? See the starlight on the lake? I have heard that your world looks like this at night, in summer. Ours is always like this. No day, no night. Just like this--starlight." Her hand went to Alan's shoulder. "Y
- 479 Again I touched the drug to my tongue; held it an instant. The cage drew away; grew to a normal six-foot height; then larger, until in a moment it stopped. I stood peering at it, trying to gauge its size in relation to me. I wanted so intensely now to app
- 480 Glora said abruptly, "Listen! Is that someone coming?"They thought they heard approaching footsteps. A moment pa.s.sed but no one came into the room."Hurry," urged Glora. "That was nothing. We're waiting too long.""My boy--Alan, after all these ye
- 481 I scrambled back to my hiding place. Polter's huge fingers were fumbling at our bars. The little door sprang open."Come, Babs."He held the cupped bowl of his hand to the doorway. "Come out.""No!" she called. "It is too far down!""Come. That iss
- 482 "Do I? But of course I'm coming back!" He cast her off. "Babs, listen. Father's upset. That's natural. You tell him not to worry. I'll be careful, and do what I can to save that little city. I must find Glora and--"Babs was suddenly trembling with
- 483 They reached the outskirts of the city at about the middle of the afternoon. The sun, cold and yellow, hung above them in the colorless sky. Dorle stopped at the top of a ridge overlooking the city."Well, there it is. What's left of it."There was not m
- 484 "I? Nothing.""Are you sure?""I was thinking that there must have been a time when this planet was quite different, when there was life on it.""I suppose there was. It's unfortunate that no s.h.i.+ps from our system came this far, but then we had n
- 485 We nodded, and prepared to visit the bottom a mile below the Rosa's keel. The preparation consisted merely in donning heavy, fleece-lined jumpers to protect us from the cold of the sunless depths.Soberly we entered the ball to undergo whatever ordeal awa
- 486 Or should they try to ride out the storm in spite of being crippled by the drag of us?"I think if I were up there I'd cut us adrift," said Stanley grimly. Both the Professor and myself nodded. "Though," he added hopefully, "my captain is a good gamb
- 487 At length the low pa.s.sageway ended, and I exclaimed aloud at what I saw.I was looking down a long avenue of buildings, all three stories in height. There were large door and window apertures, but no doors nor window panes. In front of each house was a s
- 488 "We have a curious custom in Zyobor of which I have not yet told thee," she murmured. "It concerns the kings of Zyobor. The color of their hair."She glanced up at my own carrot-top, and then averted her gaze."For all of our history our kings have had
- 489 The Professor threw down a large fragment of rock. Seconds elapsed and we heard no splash. The unseen surface was too far below for the noise of the rock's fall to carry on up to us."The mystery of this ball of earth on which we live!" murmured the Pro
- 490 "I think we have it! At least it's worth trying. If there is any tubing around...." He stopped as he realized he was talking in English, and resumed stiltedly in Aga's own language."Hast thou, in the palace, any lengths of pipe like to that which the
- 491 She said an unp.r.o.nounceable word and added: "You may call me Liz."Montcalm went to the closet and found one of Millie's house dresses. He held it out to her beseechingly.As he did so, he was stricken with a sudden sharp feeling of regret that she mu
- 492 The s.p.a.ceman had been cleaned up and bandaged by the native medicos. Kinton saw that his left thigh was probably broken. Other dressings suggested cracked ribs and lacerations on the head and shoulders. The man was dark-haired but pale of skin, with a
- 493 "Birken!" he shouted. "For the last time! Do you want me to send them to drag you back here?"Birken stopped at that. He regarded the motionless Tepoktans with a derisive sneer."They don't look too eager to me," he taunted.Kinton growled a Tepoktan
- 494 The Egyptian's curved sword clanged against Sir Robert's helm, setting his head ringing. In return, the knight's broadsword came about in a sweeping arc, and the Egyptian's horse rode on with the rider's headless body.Behind him, Sir Robert heard fur
- 495 "We've a.s.sumed that our smas.h.i.+ng the dome and opening it to s.p.a.ce killed Ku Sui and everyone inside, and destroyed all the mechanisms, including the coordinated brains. But the mechanism controlling the asteroid's invisibility was not destroye
- 496 Save for that far-off spectral hint of the giant occulted planet, Hawk Ca.r.s.e sped in darkness. Through the open face-plate the night wind buffeted his emotionless, stone-set face: his suit whistled a song of speed as the gusts laced by it. Down and ahe
- 497 Lar Tantril was not annoyed by the words. He only laughed and slapped his thigh."Yes?" he mocked. "Truly, Captain Ca.r.s.e, you must be frightened, to try and anger me so I'll shoot! Do you fear a skewer-blade so much? We would leave most of you for K
- 498 "They have a good understanding of it, but along lines entirely different from what our own were at their stage of development. For example: they power their machines with chemicals but there is no steam, heat, or exhaust.""That's what we want to find
- 499 "I can't stop to take you back to your own world and I can't leave you alive on this one--with what you've learned from my mind you would have the natives build the Varn a disintegrator-equipped s.p.a.ce fleet equal to our own s.h.i.+ps.""We want on
- 500 For it was a gigantic dome of black metal rising sheer from the lonely sea, ten miles if anything in diameter, a third that in greatest height. There was no gate or window or opening of any kind in it. Just the colossal, smooth black dome rearing from the