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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
- 1655 When they put new chains on him, around neck and waist, he thought it was only to make sure he didn't run away before they could deliver him ostentatiously to the s.h.i.+p.A dozen adult males had gathered in the clearing, but that was hardly an unusual e
- 1654 "I dont believe it!" Reinhart gasped. "It isnt possible. If Cole solved Hedges problem that would mean--" He broke off, staggered. "Faster than light drive can now be used for s.p.a.ce travel," Sherikov continued, waving the noise down. "As Hedge i
- 1653 A flash, and a blinding spark of light around him.The spark picked him up and tossed him like a dry leaf. He grunted in agony as searing fire crackled about him, a blazing inferno that gnawed and ate hungrily through his screen. He spun dizzily and fell t
- 1652 "Down!" Reinhart shouted. He dropped to his hands and knees. All around him his police dived for the floor. Reinhart cursed wildly, dragging himself quickly toward the door. They had to get out, and right away. Sherikov had escaped. A false wall, an ene
- 1651 "What happens if I don't wire this control for you? I mean, what happens to me?""Then I turn you over to Reinhart. Reinhart will kill you instantly. He thinks you're dead, killed when the Albertine Range was annihilated. If he had any idea I had save
- 1650 "Incredible." Sherikov's eyes were only an inch from the wiring. "Such tiny relays. How could he--""What?""Nothing." Sherikov got abruptly to his feet, closing the box carefully. "Can I take this along? To my lab? I'd like to a.n.a.lyze it more
- 1649 Presently the stove opened, sliding out a tray of steaming dishes. The mechanism clicked off, dying into silence. Steven grabbed up the contents of the tray, filling his arms. He carried everything down the hall, out the emergency door and into the yard.
- 1648 For a long time he studied the tube. Then, gradually, he became aware of something. Something in the top right-hand corner.A date. October 6, 2128.Cole's vision blurred. Everything spun and wavered around him. October, 2128. Could it be?But he held the p
- 1647 Reinhart watched, tense and rigid. For a moment nothing happened. 7-6 continued to show. Then-- The figures disappeared. The machines faltered. New figures showed briefly. 4-24 for Centaurus. Reinhart gasped, suddenly sick with apprehension. But the figur
- 1646 Reinhart stopped in his tracks."Pretty, isn't he?" Sherikov said ironically."What the h.e.l.l is it?"Icarus, we call him. Remember the Greek myth? The legend of Icarus. Icarus flew.... This Icarus is going to fly, one of these days." Sherikov shrugg
- 1645 "Down, boy!" he said, and dealt the bear a sharp blow across the muzzle with his board.The bear dealt Oliver a roundhouse clout in return that stretched him half-conscious beside Perrl-high-C-trill-and-A-above. Then, at precisely that moment of greatest
- 1644 He looked back at Barbara, then smiled down at the girl. "Just like I said ... a short meeting. No need for any dictating. Lucky you.""Oh, I don't know," she countered coyly."Say, I heard a story the other day you might like. Do you like stories?"
- 1643 She moved back from the door into the darkness of the house; and the salesman s.h.i.+fted his case back to his left hand, pushed the front door wide and took a quick long step inside. He was just in time to hear the slight click of the closing of a second
- 1642 By dusk the roads he drove were no longer paved. Ruts carved deep by spring rains suggested long disuse. The swaying of the car and the constant grinding of gears eventually jolted Jenny out of her romantic dreams. She moved away from George and sat looki
- 1641 My rush brought me into point-blank range on a line parallel with Beth's prostrate figure. At the same time her torturers wheeled about to face me, trapped for an instant in the paralysis of complete surprise. Ristal was the first to recover."Drop the g
- 1640 Beth and I sat on the couch her father had vacated. We talked. I watched my words carefully; there were a good many commonplace things I knew nothing about. And I didn't want any more questions about myself. Fortunately, conversation between a young man
- 1639 THE PLOTTERS.By Alexander Blade .He came from a far planet to find some of the Earth's secrets. But Marko found other things, too--like his love for beautiful Beth It seemed to be the same tree that kept getting in my way. I tried to go around it but it
- 1638 "We'll know what we're after when darkness falls," he said. "But that's a good twelve hours away. In the meantime, there's a possibility that our missing key is outside the crater, rather than here inside it."They turned on him together, both baff
- 1637 They had fled almost to the sheer ambient face of the crater wall when the Falakian girl touched Farrell's arm and pointed back through the scented, pearly mists."Someone," she said. Her voice stumbled over the almost forgotten Terran word, but its sou
- 1636 To one side the mouth of the cavern yawned dark and forbidding as they went toward it. Andra explained to Karn that it was the mouth of a tunnel which led to the city proper. There were walls about the city which were never opened.They were almost to the
- 1635 Against the blackness of the early morning sky the huge ball traced an arc of flame. Had Karn been watching the sky he would have seen the ball slow in its descent and then come to a landing some distance ahead of him. But he was too busy for that.On the
- 1634 President Wong took the paper. It was an order sending a s.p.a.ce platoon, 5,000 wars.h.i.+ps and 500,000 men, to the system of Altair A, to place themselves under the command of the Grasvian fleet for an attack against the system of Altair D.The Presiden
- 1633 Golden Age of Science Fiction.Vol XIII.by Various.ONCE UPON A PLANET.By J. J. Allerton The mighty King Miotis came down to Earth to recapture his lost desire for war. But what he saw on this planet, caused him to feel differently.Once upon a planet there
- 1632 More to achieve, somehow, my own peace of mind, than in any hope of its being discovered, I have written this narrative. There are two copies, this to be placed in a helio-beryllium box at the terminus of the bridge, the other within the comet[TN-3]. One
- 1631 "Fortunately, they've been covered with helio-beryllium paint, and the helmet gla.s.s is the same stuff. Not even that atmosphere can touch it. I suppose there can be no life on the place. With all this sand, it would have to be based on silicon instead
- 1630 "Easily. There's a two-thirds margin of safety.""And you haven't considered that it may get harder to push? You know the increase of ma.s.s with velocity. You can't take one-half of the relativity theory without the other. And they've actually meas
- 1629 It was late in the afternoon when I called Correy and Kincaide to the navigating room, where I had spent several hours charting our return course."I believe, gentlemen," I remarked, "that we can call on Mr. Fetter now. I'll ask you to remain in charge
- 1628 The floor, apparently, had been smoothed by human effort, but for the rest, the corridor was, to judge from the evidence, entirely natural for the walls of s.h.i.+ny black rock bore no marks of tools.At intervals, other pa.s.sages branched off from the ma
- 1627 "Yes?" I said, smiling to myself, and wondering what was coming next."Yes, Commander Hanson." There was just the faintest suggestion of steeliness in her voice now. "I fancy you've been giving him good advice, and painting me in lurid colors. Do you
- 1626 "Well, for a second I couldn't speak. I just stared at her, and she kept smiling back at me. 'What are you doing here?' I managed to ask her, at last. 'Do you know where you are?'"'I'll talk to your commanding officer,' she told me, cool as you
- 1625 "I don't think so," responded the chemist. "If my guess at the city's age is right, fifteen thousand years wouldn't make enough difference in the water supply--nor a hundred thousand, for that matter. It's something else, though the water's doubtl
- 1624 Jarvis answered. "It's all right--just gashed. No danger of infection here, I guess; Leroy says there aren't any microbes on Mars.""Well," exploded the Captain, "Let's hear it, then! Your radio reports sounded screwy. 'Escaped from Paradise!' Hu
- 1623 The creature rose to his feet, strode springily toward Murphy. He carried a crossbow and a sword, like those of Murphy's fleet-footed guards. But he wore no s.p.a.ce-suit. Could there be breathable traces of an atmosphere? Murphy glanced at his gauge. Ou
- 1622 "Very much so.""Excellent," said the Sultan. "You do me honor with your presence."Murphy waited patiently."I understand that you had a visitor this morning," said the Sultan."Yes. Mr. Trimmer." "May I inquire the nature of the conversation?""
- 1621 Soek smiled languidly. "You are so typical an old-lander--worried, frowning, dynamic. You should relax, cultivate napau, enjoy life as we do here in Singhalut.""What's napau?""It's our philosophy, where we find meaning and life and beauty in every
- 1620 "It can have no possible basis," said Prince Ali-Tomas. "We have no horses on Cirgamesc. None whatever.""But ...""The veriest idle talk. Such nonsense will have no interest for your intelligent partic.i.p.ants."The car rolled into a square a hundr
- 1619 Wilbur Murphy had a blond crew-cut, a broad freckled nose, and a serious sidelong squint. He looked from his crumpled sequence idea to Catlin and Frayberg. "Didn't like it, eh?""We thought the emphasis should be a little different," explained Catlin.
- 1618 He turned on the electric lamp which hung over the desk, for in the fast-gathering dusk the interior of the Ring was in almost total darkness. How should his message read? It must be brief: it must tell the story, and, above all, it must be compelling.He
- 1617 The extraordinary announcement, transmitted from various European news agencies, that an attempt had been made by the general commanding the First Artillery Division of the German Army of the Meuse to violate the armistice, had caused a profound sensation
- 1616 Alas for the wives and children of the herdsmen! And alas for the herds! But better that the eight core bombs projected by "Thanatos" through the midnight sky toward Paris should have torn the foliage of the Bois, destroyed the grandstands of Auteuil an
- 1615 "Haven't you heard?""No," answered Hooker rather impatiently. "I haven't heard anything. I haven't any time to read the papers; I'm too busy. My thermic inductor transformers melted last week and I'm all in the air. What was it?""Oh, never min
- 1614 "Professor von Schwenitz is here," he announced, and immediately returned to take up the thread of his conversation in the centre of the hall.The general turned gruffly to greet his visitor. "I have sent for you, Professor," said he, without removing
- 1613 "Well, they are and they ain't. Pax--that's what he calls himself--signals NAA, our number, you understand, and then says what he has to say to the whole world, care of the United States. The first message I thought was a joke and stuck it in a book I
- 1612 "Curious performance of the magnetic needle. They say it held due east for several minutes," continued Evarts, hoping to engage his senior in conversation--almost an impossibility, as he well knew.Thornton did not reply. He was carefully observing the i
- 1611 "Oho!" DeCastros said, "If I am not mistaken, old Malmsworth has holed up in that very same rift where we caught him at his dirty business seventeen years ago. He's as mad as a Martian; you can lay to that. He'd have to be."The rift, when they arriv
- 1610 "Tch, tch," DeCastros said, "can anyone really be so asthenic as you seem, Mr. Wordsley?""No, sir," Mr. Wordsley said, uncertain of his meaning.The captain winked. "Yet there was that ruffled s.h.i.+rt that I found in the laundromat last week. It w
- 1609 Black psionically cut in the outer office visiphone connection. The bell rang almost immediately. He switched on the inner office instrument and a familiar face came in sync on the screen--that of Peter Dodson, the princ.i.p.al administrative officer of t
- 1608 During the stabilization course one professor had permitted him to skip some cla.s.ses. Now he wished that he hadn't missed them; he probably wouldn't have this semantic instability to contend with now. Oh, well....He was tired. He'd spent the previous
- 1607 "Exactly. Is that too much to ask after all you've done?""I guess I have made mistakes. From now on you be the boss. I'll do whatever you say.""I hope I can count on that." Tendal 13 rang the jail buzzer.The jailer unlocked the cell door."You rem
- 1606 The figure of a woman ran from the house, retrieved the now squalling infant and ran back into the house. Once inside, Nancy slammed the door, gave the baby to the stunned Martin and headed for the telephone."One of them was the same man!" she cried.Mar
- 1605 "Can you stand the pressure of a whole world angered because you've denied them their right to an education?""I suppose not." He looked at Brennan, at Professor White and at Jack Cowling. "If I've got to trust somebody," he said reluctantly, "I s
- 1604 Turning to face the new voice, James said calmly, "You mean 'may not' which implies that I have asked your permission. Your statement is incorrect as phrased and erroneous when corrected."He turned the k.n.o.b and entered. Judge Carter sat at his desk
- 1603 "Well, why don't I kiss you good night and send you off to bed.""All right, if you want to.""Why?""Oh--just--well, everybody does it."She sat near him on the low divan, looking him full in the face but making no move, no gesture, no change in her
- 1602 "Then I shall point out that your ruling is based upon a personal opinion because you don't know anything about the process. If I am ruled a legal minor you cannot punish me for not telling you my secrets, and if I am ruled legally competent, I am ent.i
- 1601 "Yes.""And you've testified that when you moved into the Holden home, you found things as the Holdens had provided them for their child?""Yes.""In your opinion, were these surroundings suitable for James Holden?""They were far too advanced for a
- 1600 "Indeed? How, may I ask?""It was rebuilt by James Holden from plans, specifications, and information engraved on his brain by his parents through the use of their first machine. Unfortunately, I have every reason to believe that this new machine is so
- 1599 "But--""Got an hour?" asked James with a smile. "Then listen--"At the end of James Holden's long explanation, Tim Fisher said, "Me--? Now, I need a drink!"James chuckled, "Alcoholic, of course--which is Pi to seven decimal places if you ever nee
- 1598 On the other hand, James did not wholly approve. He contrasted this with what he remembered of his own home life. The guests who came to visit his mother and father were quiet and earnest. They indulged in animated discussions, argued points of deep reaso
- 1597 Tim laughed."What's so darned funny?""Women.""Are we such a bunch of clowns?""Not clowns, Janet. Just funny." "All right, genius. Explain that.""A woman is a lovely creature who sends a man away so that he can't do what she wants him to do mo
- 1596 "It's been months since I saw a movie."James shrugged again, puzzled. "You saw the 'Bride of Frankenstein' last night on TV," he pointed out."I first saw that old horror when I was about your age," she told him with a trace of disdain."I liked i
- 1595 The supposed departure for school went off neatly, no one in the town of s.h.i.+pmont was surprised when Mrs. Bagley turned up buying an automobile of several years' vintage because this was a community where everybody had one.The letters continued at th
- 1594 James eyed Mrs. Bagley carefully. He said softly, "Mrs. Bagley, tell me, would you give Martha a college education if you had--or will you if you have at the time--the wherewithal to provide it?""Of course.""You have it here," said James. "So long
- 1593 She retreated, hiding most of her face. Mrs. Bagley stroked her hair and said, "Now, Martha, come on. Tell the little boy your name."Purely as a matter of personal pride, James Holden objected to the "little boy" but he kept his peace because he knew
- 1592 His advanced Mecanno set was "broken"--so Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l told him. Uncle Paul had accidentally crushed it. "But you'll like this better," she beamed, handing him a fresh new box from the toy store. It contained bright-colored modular blocks.Jimmy'
- 1591 Sincerely, Joseph Brandon, editor, Boy's Magazine."Gee," breathed Jimmy, "a check!"Jake laughed roughly. "Shakespeare," he roared. "Don't corn up your stuff! You put too many errors in! Wow!"Jimmy's eyes began to burn. He had no defense against
- 1590 "Good. You and me are going to get along."Inside of the squalid shack, Jake had a cozy set-up. The filth that he encouraged out in the junkyard was not tolerated inside his shack. The dividing line was halfway across the edge of the door; the inside was
- 1589 Law and order were out. His only chance was to lose himself in some gray hinterland where there were so many of his own age that no one could keep track of them all. Whether he would succeed was questionable. But until he tried, he wouldn't know, and Jim
- 1588 "My mother and father are--""You eat your cookies and drink your milk," ordered his grandmother. "We know. That Mr. Brennan sent us a telegram."It was slightly more than twenty-four hours since Jimmy Holden had blown out the five proud candles on hi
- 1587 "What happened?" asked the uninvited volunteer.Brennan, whatever his thoughts, said in a voice filled with standard concern: "Blowout. Then everything went blooey.""Anyone--I mean how many--?""Two dead," said Brennan, and then added because he had
- 1586 The planet Strett had a ma.s.s of approximately seven times ten to the twenty-first metric tons. Its moon, little more than a hundredth as ma.s.sive, still weighed in at about eight times ten to the nineteenth--that is, the figure eight followed by ninete
- 1585 "Neither are we unanimous on the basic matter as to why the Masters acted as they did just before they left Ardry. Why did they set the status so far below their top ability? Why did they make it impossible for the Omans ever, of themselves, to learn the
- 1584 "Of course not, sir. Terra needs power too badly. You are perfectly welcome to that one load of uranexite, no matter what is decided here.""That's one way of putting it," Gordon sneered. "But the truth is that you know d.a.m.ned well I'll blow both
- 1583 "The First Team doesn't need you now too much, does it, Jarve?" Sawtelle asked."Not particularly. In fact, I was just going to get back onto my own job.""Not yet. I want to talk to you," and the two went into a long discussion of naval affairs.XI.T
- 1582 "I thought better of you than that, son." Sawtelle shook his head sadly. "That was the first thing I did.""Ouch. Maybe you're 'way ahead of me too, then, on the one that we should move to Fuel Bin, lock, stock and barrel?""Never thought of it, no
- 1581 Temple blushed furiously and Hilton came instantly to his bride's rescue. "Chip-chop the comedy, gang. She and I aren't human any more. We're a good jump toward being Omans. I couldn't make her believe it doesn't show."That stopped the levity, cold
- 1580 "No, sir. We can read only the simplest of the Masters' records. They arranged our brains that way, sir.""I know. They're the type. However, I suspect now that your thinking is reversed. Let's turn it around. Say the Masters didn't come from Terra,
- 1579 The three men arrived and were instructed. Tuly said: "The great trouble is that each of you must use a portion of your mind that you do not know you have. You, this one. You, that one." Tuly probed mercilessly; so poignantly that each in turn flinched
- 1578 "Huh?" Both men gasped--and then both exploded like one twelve-inch length of primacord.While the Omans could not understand this purely Terran reasoning, they accepted the decision without a demurring thought. "Who, then, are the two its to simulate?
- 1577 Just then Temple Bells strolled up to them. "Morning, you two lovely people." She hugged Hilton's arm as usual. "Shame on you, Teddy. But I wish I had the nerve to kiss him like that.""Nerve? You?" Teddy laughed as Hilton picked Temple up and kisse
- 1576 Sandra had so arranged matters that she and Hilton were sitting in chairs side by side, with Sandra on his right and the aisle on his left. Nevertheless, Temple Bells sat at his left, cross-legged on a cus.h.i.+on on the floor--somewhat to the detriment o
- 1575 "I see. I've heard that they weren't keeping up with our team.""He says that there's nothing to keep up with, and I'm inclined to agree with him." The old s.p.a.cehound's voice took on a quarter-deck rasp. "It's a combination of psionics, witch
- 1574 Hilton glanced at his tell-tales, one inside, one outside, his suit. Both showed zero.Down twenty steps, another door. Twenty more; another. And a fourth. Hilton's inside meter still read zero. The outside one was beginning to climb.Into an elevator and
- 1573 After a short silence de Vaux said, "I suppose you realize that the first half of the problem you posed us has now solved itself?""Why, no. No, you're 'way ahead of me.""There is a basic problem and it can now be clearly stated," Rebecca said. "P
- 1572 Two of the aliens had brushed the mechanics--very gently--aside and were doing their work for them. Ignoring the hoist, one native had picked the tube up and was holding it exactly in place on the Mayfield. The other, hands moving faster than the eye coul
- 1571 "I'll tell the c.o.c.keyed world you won't!" Hilton broke in. "Me marry a d.a.m.ned female Ph.D.? Uh-uh. Mine will be a cuddly little brunette that thinks a slipstick is some kind of lipstick and that an isotope's something good to eat.""One like
- 1570 And he was. "Every power unit out there--suits and boats both--drained," Hilton reported. "Completely drained. Get some help out there fast!"In an enormous structure deep below the surface of a far-distant world a group of technicians cl.u.s.tered tog
- 1569 "We'll have to convert the Valhalla to the new drive," Captain Donnell said. He looked still stunned by Alan's sudden appearance. "Otherwise we'll never be able to meet the compet.i.tion of the new s.h.i.+ps. There will be new s.h.i.+ps, won't ther
- 1568 He was...o...b..ting over a vast dust-blown plain. The sky was a fantastic color, mottled blues and greens and an all-pervading pink, and the air was dull gray. No sun at all penetrated the heavy shroud of vapor that hung round the planet.For five hours h
- 1567 At the time, he had been much too excited and fl.u.s.tered to answer anything. But, as the next twelve months went by, he learned that being a millionaire was quite pleasant indeed.There were headaches, of course. There was the initial headache of signing
- 1566 The week pa.s.sed slowly, and Alan did poorly at his nightly work. His mind was anywhere but on the flas.h.i.+ng games board, and the permutations and combinations eluded him. He lost, though not heavily.Each night the ten members of the Syndicate met at
- 1565 Things were not quite so easy in the Cla.s.s B games parlors. Compet.i.tion was rough. Some of the players were, like Alan, sharp newcomers just up from the bottom of the heap; others were former Cla.s.s A men who were sliding down again, but still did we
- 1564 The ground bus took them over the majestic arch of the bridge, rapidly through the sleepy Enclave--Alan saw n.o.body he recognized in the streets--and through the restricted area that led to the s.p.a.cefield.The s.p.a.ceport was a jungle of s.h.i.+ps, ea
- 1563 And then the board lit up again, and for the first time he was playing.He set up a tentative pattern; golden streaks flitted across the board, mingling with red and blue blinkers. Then the first number came. Alan integrated it hastily and realized he had
- 1562 Again a correction. Hawkes sat transfixed, staring intently at the board. The other players were similarly entranced, Alan saw. He realized it was possible for someone to become virtually hypnotized by the game, to spend days on end sitting before the boa
- 1561 "That happens to be the address of the Atlas Games Parlor. Your brother Steve probably spends most of his working day there, when he has enough cash to get in. I know the place. It's a cheap joint where the payoffs are low but easy. It's the kind of pl
- 1560 Hawkes frowned, but wrote it down that way."Work card number--well, we don't know that. And they want five or six other numbers too. We'll just have to skip them. Better give me a full physical description as of the last time you saw him."Alan thought
- 1559 "I guess I broke it." Alan looked down at the supine robot. "But it wasn't my fault. It wouldn't let me pa.s.s.""We'd better move on," Rat said. But it was too late. A burly man in a black cloak threw open the door of the gambling parlor and conf
- 1558 Alan watched in astonishment as Quantrell took two steps hesitantly backward away from the bridge, then a third. There was a strange, almost thunderstruck expression on Kevin's face.Then he broke out of it. He shook his head."We aren't really going acr
- 1557 "Tell me, Rat. If you were me----""If I were you I'd get dressed for that dance," Rat said sharply. "If you've got a date, that is.""That's just the point. I don't have a date. I mean, I didn't bother to make one. I know all those girls so wel
- 1556 He snapped on a spool of light music and stretched back, completely exhausted. I don't ever want to see or taste a dinosaur steak again, he thought. Not ever.He watched the figures of his crewmates das.h.i.+ng through the s.h.i.+p, each going about some