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| Random House 1946, George Salter |
"Requiem" by Robert A. Heinlein
"Forgetfulness" by John W. Campbell, Jr. (as "Don A. Stewart")
"Nerves" by Lester del Rey
"The Sands of Time" by P. Schuyler Miller
"The Proud Robot" by Henry Kuttner (as "Lewis Padgett")
"Black Destroyer" by A. E. van Vogt
"Symbiotica" by Eric Frank Russell
"Seeds of the Dusk" by Raymond Z. Gallun
"Heavy Planet" by Milton A. Rothman (as "Lee Gregor")
"Time Locker" by Henry Kuttner (as "Lewis Padgett")
"The Link" by Cleve Cartmill
"Mechanical Mice" by Maurice G. Hugi & Eric Frank Russell
"V-2 Rocket Cargo Ship" (non-fiction) by Willy Ley
"Adam and No Eve" by Alfred Bester
"Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov
"A Matter of Size" by Harry Bates
"As Never Was" by P. Schuyler Miller
"Q. U. R." by Anthony Boucher
"Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr. (as "Don A. Stewart")
"The Roads Must Roll" by Robert A. Heinlein
"Asylum" by A. E. van Vogt
"Quietus" by Ross Rocklynne
"The Twonky" by Henry Kuttner (as "Lewis Padgett")
"Time-Travel Happens!" (non-fiction) by Alexander M. Phillips
"Robot's Return" by Robert Moore Williams
"The Blue Giraffe" by L. Sprague de Camp
"Flight Into Darkness" by J. Francis McComas (as "Webb Marlowe")
"The Weapons Shop" by A. E. van Vogt
"Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates
"Within the Pyramid" by R. DeWitt Miller
"He Who Shrank" by Henry Hasse
"By His Bootstraps" by Robert A. Heinlein (as "Anson MacDonald")
"The Star Mouse" by Fredric Brown
"Correspondence Course" by Raymond F. Jones
"Brain" by S. Fowler Wright
Published in 1946 and edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas, Adventures in Time and Space ("35 Science Fiction Stories of the Future World of Atomic Power, Rockets, etc.") is historically notable for being one of the first major collections of 20th century science-fiction in book form. Featuring stories from 1932 to 1945 (and mostly drawn from John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Astounding Science Fiction magazine), this anthology could be considered to be a good cross-section of stories from before and during the so-called "Golden Age" of sf, leading up to the end of WW II. Published by Random House, it naturally follows that the book highlights American GA sf writers such as Robert A. Heinlen, Isaac Asimov, A. E. van Vogt, P. Schuyler Miller, Henry Kuttner, Eric Frank Russell and Campbell himself. Below are synopses of these stories as well as illustrations from their original appearances in magazines. Additional illustrations can be found here.
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| M. Isip |
"Requiem" (Robert A. Heinlein, Astounding Science-Fiction, January 1940)
Now wealthy and elderly, the architect of the first moon landing, Delos Harriman (from Heinlein's "The Man Who Sold The Moon"), has still not had his chance to go to the moon. By the time moon travel has finally become feasible to the public (and thus allowed to Harriman under the terms of his Board), he has become deemed too elderly for such arduous travel. Eventually, he hires two freelance spacemen, and with their help secretly builds his own spacecraft. Although Delos’ health begins to fail, he undertakes the journey and lands on the Moon. He feels a great feeling of contentment even as he draws his last breath on the lunar surface. The two spacemen feel sympathy for the old man and prop up his corpse so that it faces the Earth, and leave him with a note containing Robert Louis Stevenson's poem, "Requiem".
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|
Jack Binder |
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| Paul Orban |
- A doctor named Ferrel is told to report to the atomic plant he is employed at in order to handle a sudden government inspection. Palmer, the plant manager, is concerned since the local press has been inflaming public fears of radiation leaking from the plant.
- During the inspection, an accident occurs. Ferrel does all he can for the victim's radiation burns, but the timing if the incident will probably mean disaster for the plant's future.
- Palmer meets with a congressman named Morgan, who promises aid if the plant will provide his constituents with a new form of experimental radioactive insecticide. Palmer agrees, although there is a slight chance that the radioactive process might result in the dreaded Isotope R.
- As the process to create the new element begins that very night, another accident occurs. Ferrel takes in a few initial patients, apparently injured by flying shrapnel.
- The plant's lead scientist, Jorgenson, rages while the atomic converter explodes. After finding temporary refuge in a lead box, he realizes that the new process has indeed resulted in Isotope R.
- Ferrel and his staff begin handling burn victims. He also learns that the reaction might have created Isotope R, an element which eventually breaks down into Mahler's Isotope, an extremely explosive element with a half-life of hours. If true, all of the contaminated flesh and materials will eventually explode spontaneously.
- Palmer goes over to the damaged converter plant where a few men are rescued. However, many are found dead, and Palmer realizes that Jorgenson must have perished as well. Even worse, it looks like the chamber is full of Isotope R.
- The men eventually manage to find Jorgenson still alive in his lead box. Unfortunately, right after being given emergency treatment, he apparently stops breathing.
- Ferrel's wife Emma becomes worried at her husband's absence, and notices that the entire city seems tense about rumors of the plant "blowing up". She drives to the plant in search of her husband.
- Ferrel uses manual heart massage to keep Jorgenson alive until an experimental mechanical device is delivered to the plant so that it can take over for him.
- With time running out before Isotope R ignites a massive explosion (possibly strong enough to split the entire continent), the medical staff race to revive Jorgenson in the hopes that he might present a solution.
- Palmer is informed that the government plans to drop a fusion bomb on the plant in an effort to halt the Isotope R explosion. Unfortunately, Palmer knows that this will only increase the scope of the devastation. In order to buy time, he tells congress that the situation is under control.
- Jorgenson briefly revives and manages to give some hints to a solution. Jenkins, one of Ferrel's assistants, realizes the true nature of the solution (it turns out that he is a respected scientist's stepson). The men use thermite to turn the radioactive magma in the converter chamber into a gas form, after which the vaporized isotope is funneled through tubing to a nearby river. When the isotope hits the water, it's explosive potential is eliminated due to its dissolution in the river.
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|
H. Wesso |
"The Sands of Time" (P. Schuyler Miller, Astounding Stories, April 1937)
- While digging out dinosaur bones, a scientist names Beldon is shown pictures of supposedly living dinosaurs by a stranger named Donovan. He discounts them as a hoax, despite their realism.
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Beldon encounters Donovan once more and is shown a strange creature which he
claims to be from the Cretaceous period. Back at Donovan's house, Beldon is
shown an egg-shaped time machine which can only travel distances of 60
million years at a time. Donovan claims that he had traveled back to the
Cretaceous a second time in order to obtain proof to convince Beldon of his
claims.
Grayson & Grayson 1952, Mudge-Marriott - In Donavan's account, his arm is injured while tracking a dinosaur. Just before he is killed by a second dinosaur, a woman in a silver outfit destroys the attacking dinosaur and tends to his wounds in a cave, occupied by other men in strange attire. In short order, the cave is attacked by weapons fire from unknown assailants. Donovan retaliates with his rifle.
- Donovan uses his wits to mount a flanking attack on the assailants (blond, black skinned humanoids) and they are driven off. When the girl intends to bring Donovan aboard her spaceship, Donovan defers. When she threatens him with force, he takes her hostage instead and heads back to his Egg.
- On the journey, the girl's former colleagues attack her from the sky in their airborne rocketship. The two of them escape their pursuit by making their way through a cave passageway.
- Eventually they reach the Egg, after which Donovan returns to the present in order to get help. After recharging the Egg he tells Beldon to wait for the Egg's return, which will carry the girl, and then travels back into the past. However, Beldon never sees Donovan or the Egg again. Later, Beldon discovers fossilized tracks on the beach which are apparently those of Donovan and the girl's. Their tracks are mixed with those of an alien nature.
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| F. Kramer |
Gallegher, a brilliant scientist who does his best work while drunk, builds a robot named Joe, but the next day has no recollection of why he had built it. Joe spends all of its time preening before a mirror admiring itself, and generally considers itself a beautiful creature (although no one else thinks so). Gallegher is also hired by Brock, a media mogul who needs him to develop technology to help him defeat the Sonatones, a rival studio which has been using "pirate theaters" to attract larger audiences. Later, Gallegher finds out that his robot has impersonated him and signed a contract putting Gallegher in servitude to the Sonatones. Gallegher has no control over the robot because he does not have the "key", which is the original purpose of the robot's construction. Gallegher eventually tricks the robot into hypnotizing itself (in order to bring out its subconscious so that it can appreciate deeper levels of its own beauty) and forces it to confess that its main purpose is to open beer cans. Armed with this knowledge, Gallegher is able to regain control of Joe, clear his reputation, and then solve Brock's problem by adding subsonics to the Sonatones' film soundtracks (which surreptitiously cause mental anguish to their audiences).
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| Graves Gladney |
When a group of space explorers (led by a man named Morton) land on an unknown planet, they discover the ruins of a dead civilization. They also soon encounter a cat-like predator who, in its own narrative, calls itself Coerl. Although an apex predator on his own world, Coerl hides his true nature from the explorers by projecting a facade of domestication. When the men bring Coerl aboard their ship, Coerl begins to secretly and systematically outwit and kill off the members of Morton’s crew, who are initially ignorant of just how intelligent Coerl really is. Finally, the historian of the crew states that the artistic nature of the planet’s ruins indicates that the native civilization must have self-destructed through a consciously “criminal” act. Assuming Coerl to be a descendant of this evil race, Morton and his crew begin to understand the full extent of the creature’s sentience. In the meantime, Coerl gains control of the spaceship’s engine room and launches the craft into deep space, hoping to find more prey on the humans’ home planet. As Morton’s men increase their efforts to hunt down and destroy Coerl, the creature soon realizes that its true nature has been discovered and that it must escape the ship. Coerl begins building an escape craft in the ship’s machine shop. As the men close in with atomic blasters, Coerl launches in his makeshift shuttle, intending to return to his home planet and then use the technology he has obtained to create an invasion fleet for his people. Unfortunately (for Coerl) Morton and his men are able to intercept the much slower escape craft. In despair, Coerl kills himself before the men open the hatch.
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|
Paul Orban |
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| Elliott Dold, Jr. |
"Seeds of the Dusk" (Raymond Z. Gallun, Astounding Science-Fiction, June 1938)
- Sometime in the dying days of Earth, spores from Mars land and begin growing into a form of intelligent plant life near some long abandoned ruins.
- A crow named Kaw spots the spheroid cactus-like invader and receives an electric shock when he touches one of he spines. Recognizing this plant as an unnatural intruder, he tries to warn his "flock", but they do not listen. Kaw then flies hundreds of miles north to make contact with the underground Itorloo, the last humanoids still living on Earth.
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Kaw draws the attention of Kar, an Itorloo ("Children of Men") whose race is
preparing to conquer Venus. His race also plans to use a massive
generator to destroy all life on the upper surface of Earth so that the Itorloo can dominate all life on the planet. After Kaw tells Kar of what he has seen, Kar
shoots at him out of annoyance. Afterwards, he journeys to the spore plant
and destroys it with his flame gun.
- Severely injured but still alive, Kaw is contacted by the Martian spores and drawn to their side. He then lures Kar out to a patch of spores where the Itorloo is ambushed and immobilized by the plants. Although helpless, Kar comforts himself in the knowledge that the Itorloo generators will soon destroy all life on the surface anyways. Kar is then released for some reason, and allowed to return to his people.
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Just as the Itorloo begin to use their generators to emit dangerous
vibrations across the surface of the planet, a plague strikes. Kar realizes
that the Martian invaders had infected him with a virus designed to destroy
his people. Kar urges his people to search their records of Mars in order to
find an antidote.
- Several years later, the Itorloo are all dead and the spores have developed a network of roots across the entire planet. Kaw and his kind have survived the Itorloo's planetary purge and live peacefully alongside the spore plants. Meanwhile, the spores consider a future in which they may migrate to Venus.
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| W. A. Koll |
On a high-gravity planet with an immensely severe atmospheric pressure, the natives have developed extreme strength and endurance, but lack the technology to leave their planet, due to its high gravitational attraction. When an alien craft crash lands in the sea, a man named Ennis investigates, hoping to salvage its atomic energy technology in order to help his people obtain technology for interplanetary travel. However, soldiers from Marak, an enemy nation also arrive. Using his comparatively-immense strength on the alien spacecraft hull to his advantage, Ennis is eventually able to defeat his enemies with the alien technology.
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| M. Isip |
"Time Locker" (Henry Kuttner, Astounding Science-Fiction, January 1943)
A scientist named Galloway invents a cabinet in which objects placed inside are transformed into small replicas (actually geometric distortions), but can be recovered into their original shapes when withdrawn. A lawyer named Vanning borrows the cabinet and uses it to store a suitcase filled with illegal funds. After it shrinks, he notices a small figure trying to make off with the suitcase. He reaches inside the cabinet and squashes the figure with his fist, and then closes the cabinet door. When he next opens the cabinet, the suitcase is missing. Galloway tells Vanning that the cabinet must move objects into the future, and the reason they shrink is because the forces causing the universe to shrink act the same way on anything which lands in that time frame. However, Galloway has no explanation for the small figure which Vanning had crushed. Sometime later, the suitcase appears in Vanning's office. As Vanning reaches for the suitcase, a giant hand (his own from the past) reaches out from empty space and crushes him. Later, Galloway remarks that the rate of shrinkage over time is much greater than he ever would have imagined.
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| Kolliker |
"The Link" (Cleve Cartmill, Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1942)
In the ancient past, a hairless humanoid (the first ancestor of man) named Lok begins to retain dim memories of the past and develops the ability to plan for the future (as opposed to merely living entirely in the present like his former brethren). Lok uses these new skills to strike fear in the jungle animals he encounters. When he returns to his former tribe (of hairy humanoids) he uses a club to kill a few of them, hoping to assert rule over them. However, they reject Lok for his obvious difference from them and he is forced to escape from them. Later, he rescues a female of his tribe trapped underneath a tree, after which she decides to join him. Together, they start a new form of civilization.
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| Charles Schneeman |
"The Mechanical Mice" (Maurice G. Hugi & Eric Frank Russell, Astounding Science-Fiction, Jan 1941)
A man named Burman invents a device by which he can view events in the far future. On one such viewing, he makes contact with a mechanical intelligence which impels him to memorize some design specs. In the ensuing years, he builds the device described by the specs from the future, which turns out to be a coffin-shaped robot. However, he has no idea what it is supposed to do. Eventually, the device begins producing small mouse-sized drones which range across the neighborhood collecting bits of machinery. Unfortunately, these drones are also armed with razor-sharp knives and they kill many cats which mistake them for mice. Burman himself is eventually attacked when he tries to interfere with the mouse drones and decides to take a sledgehammer to the "Mother robot". Later, he finds out that drones are still roaming the neighborhood. He tracks down the source of these other drones and discovers a "daughter robot", which he promptly destroys. It turns out that, in the far future, machines rule the Earth and the machine intelligence which Burman had stumbled upon had tried to extend its rule into the past through Burman.
"V-2 Rocket Cargo Ship" (Willy Ley, Astounding Science Fiction, May 1945)
Willy Ley, Secretary of the German Rocket Society under the Weimar Republic and refugee from the Nazis, recounts the development of the V-2 rocket by German scientists. He states that the technology allowing the V-2 to carry bombs into the air could also be used to transport people into space.
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| Charles Schneeman |
"Adam and No Eve" (Alfred Bester, Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1941)
A scientist named Crane develops a rocket fuel which, although revolutionary for spaceflight, also has the potential to cause a chemical chain reaction which could destroy the Earth. Nonetheless, he launches and from high above the surface of the planet he sees that his calculations were in error and that indeed, the Earth has now become a burned cinder, covered in black ash and subjected to harsh winds and rains. He manages to parachute down and while making his way through the wilderness sees visions of his colleagues and his wife, who berate him for his recklesness. Although severely injured, he is driven by some inner impulse to reach the sea. When he finally reaches a body of water, he succumbs to his wounds, but tries to reassure himself that, although he is the last living thing on Earth, his rotting corpse will give rise to life in the sea, which will eventually develop new generations of life which will find a way to survive in this destroyed landscape. After a hundred million centuries pass, the present era of mankind arrives.
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|
Hubert Rogers |
Having 6 suns, the people of the planet Lagash never experience night. However, a scientist named Aton predicts that a solar eclipse will plunge the planet into total darkness for the first time in 2050 years, kicking off a social and technological apocalypse which will take 2000 years from which to recover from (after which the cycle will repeat itself). At the scientist’s observatory, a news reporter named Theremon expresses skepticism, while a cultist named Latimer claims that the phenomenon is a religious miracle predicted in the cult’s famous “Book of Revelations”. A psychologist named Sheerin claims that the mental strain caused by Aton's inconceivable “darkness” will prompt the citizenry to light their cities on fire in order to drive off the night (although this will also cause the collapse of their civilization). While these men discuss the approaching doom in the Aton’s observatory, cultists begin wreaking havoc in the nearby city in preparation for their “rapture”. When the eclipse becomes total, the witnesses are shocked to discover that their sky is filled with tens of thousands of stars (where they had only expected a half dozen). The unexpected realization that their planet is only a tiny part of a much larger universe drives them all mad.
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| M. Marchioni |
"A Matter of Size" (Harry Bates, Astounding Stories, April 1934)
- An ethnologist named Allison is approached by a mysterious alien to accompany him on a mission, and in return he will be given some of the secrets of the aliens' advanced technology. After he accepts, the alien ("Jones") drugs him and whisks him away to an unknown location. During this passage, he dreams of a blue-eyed girl and rows of dolls bearing his own face.
- Allison is introduced to a female blue-eyed alien (from his dream) who, due to her nature as an "atavism", looks almost human. Later, the scientist uses a "viewing device" to spy on the other occupants of the building and sees a double of himself being made to fall in love with one of the aliens through brainwashing.
- When Jones returns to put Allison through the same brainwashing procedure, Allison overpowers him and the other attendants with their own weapons.
- Allison learns the location of a spaceport from the human-like girl he had been supposed to marry and commandeers an air-car to get there. He finds a gargantuan ship docked there, and manages to lift off in it, despite the much larger scale of the controls.
- After a long journey of several weeks, Allison emerges on what he expects to be Earth, only to find himself picked up by a gargantuan hand.
- At first believing himself to be on the giant-sized Mutrantians' planet, he soon realizes that he is indeed on Earth (in NYC), but he himself has been shrunken down to mouse size by Jones' people. He decides to seek help from a friend so that he can plan revenge against Jones.
- At the apartment of his friend Peyton, he evades a dangerous cat and eventually finds a way to hide himself in an envelope and have himself mailed to his colleague Heiler, who lives near his own apartment. The next morning he emerges from the envelope to discover that he has arrived back in his own office with Jones sitting on his chair.
- Jones explains that the Allison he is speaking to is actually a tiny version of the original Allison, from which 1728 tiny Allisons were created (through a form of destructive cloning) in order that they might help reinvigorate the aliens' gene pool through mating. After their "wedding nights", the clones will be recombined into the original Allison and returned to Earth with his memory erased. With no choice in the matter, the tiny Allison makes a bargain with Jones so that the blue-eyed girl is allowed to return with him to Earth as a normal-sized human.
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| A. Williams |
An archaeologist named Toynbee uses a time machine to journey to some unspecified time in the future and retrieves a knife constructed out of an unknown metal. Unfortunately, the strain causes him to drop dead from natural causes. The scientific community is so inspired by this discovery that the pursuit of archaeology and time travel becomes popular, but no matter how many expeditions are mounted, no one can find where and when Toynbee's strange knife had come from. Eventually, Toynbee's grandson creates an exact duplicate of his grandfather's machine and journeys to the outer limit of its ability to travel into the future. There he finds the remains of his grandfather's camp, and in some nearby ruins he finds the dusty outline of the strange knife, ensconced in a museum devoted to Toynbee himself. The grandson realizes that in a paradox, the knife Toynbee had retrieved from the future is the same knife stored in this museum after his return with it. He wonders at the implications now that a notch has been cut into the knife handle back in his own time.
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| Elton Fax |
"Q. U. R." (Anthony Boucher, Astounding Science-Fiction, March 1943)
The narrator meets a scientist named Quinby who believes that the reason androids have been malfunctioning lately is because their tasks do not require them to have a humanoid body and the extraneous limbs are causing them mental dysfunction. He begins creating simplified robots without limbs or voices, equipped only to do the simple task that is required of them. The narrator decides to call these automatons "Quinby's Usuform Robots" and to start a new business making Q.U.R.s. In order to get political backing to make this new enterprise a reality, the two are called upon to help a politician create a perfect Martian liquor for a visiting diplomat. Quinby films a Martian bartender create the drink in order to create the perfect Q.U.R. to duplicate this feat.
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| H. W. Wesso |
"Who Goes There?" (John W. Campbell, Astounding Science Fiction August 1938)
- In Antarctica, scientists discover a 20-million-year-old spaceship buried in the ice. While attempting to blow open the hatch, they accidentally ignite the craft's hull and destroy it. However, they do manage to uncover a 3-eyed, blue-haired monstrosity encased in a nearby block of ice. They surmise that this must be a member of the craft's crew who had become instantly frozen after emerging from its crash long ago.
- When a biologist named Blair insists on slowly thawing the creature out, a physicist named Norris fears that such an action might unleash an extraterrestrial bacteriological threat. Nonetheless, Blair is given permission to begin chipping away at the ice block encasing the creature.
- Some of the men also fear that, like some kinds of fish, the creature might revive itself, even after millions of years of frozen dormancy. A man named Connant declares that he is willing to watch over the Thing as it thaws out, just in case
- While in a semi-mesmerized state, Connant doesn't notice that as the creature thaws, it seems to be slowly coming back to life.
- Later, Connant informs the members of the station that the creature has escaped under his nose. They eventually track it down to the dog cages and electrocute it with a weapon fashioned like a metal pitch fork .
- Upon examination of the corpse, they realize that the creature had consumed one of the dogs and then begun to remold itself into the dog's image. Blair realizes that the Thing can consume and imitate any kind of animal life and theorizes that it can even share its consciousness among its newly-recreated replicas (the Thing is apparently telepathic). In hysterics, Blair begins suspecting his fellow colleagues of possibly being one of these alien replicas.
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When Blair vows to kill every member of the station (in order to save the
world from being taken over by this infectious alien consciousness), the
other men sedate him. When the Thing's earlier guardian Connant is suspected
of being a replica, they lock him up in a room. In the meantime, the base's
medic, Dr. Copper, works on a blood test which might be used to reveal
whether a man is "real" or an alien replica. Since the test requires blood
from a dog and two humans, Copper and base commander Garry donate
samples.
- When Blair awakens and resumes his hysterics, the men lock him up in a shack with some food. Dr. Copper continues to work on his blood test, as more of the men begin to suspect each other of being not who they seem to be.
- Connant's blood test results at first seems to show that he is not a Thing. However, Dr. Copper soon realizes that the blood test results prove nothing except that either Garry or himself must be a Thing.
- As a precaution, Garry gives up his command to a meteorologist named McReady. When Dr. Copper begins to go into hysterics he is sedated.
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Using the electric fork, McReady determines that their cattle are alien
replicas and destroys them. He also realizes that he and his colleagues
might have drunken milk coming from one of these alien replicas. The men
eventually discard this idea, but soon find out that almost all of their
dogs have been replaced by replicas and destroy them.
- While McReady tries to come up with a solution to their problems, the men start showing films as a distraction. However, the cook, Kinner, is soon found dead from knife wounds inflicted by an unknown assailant.
- When McReady uses the electric fork on Kinner's remains as a precautionary measure, the carcass suddenly reanimates into a Thing, after which the men quickly destroy it. McReady soon states that he believes that spilled blood gathered from a Thing will try to flee from danger of its own accord. By threatening blood samples taken from his colleagues with a heated needle, Connant and Garry are soon exposed as Things and are destroyed.
- In the end, McReady's test exposes 14 replicas which are quickly destroyed. The men then return to Blair's shack and discover a monstrous Thing working on a mysterious device. They eventually destroy this last creature and realize that for the last week the Thing posing as Blair had been building an anti-gravity device and was just about to escape to the outside world with it when they had interrupted it.
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| Hubert Rogers |
"The Roads Must Roll" (Robert A. Heinlein,
Astounding Science-Fiction, June 1940)
Mass transit is effected by people-moving conveyor belts (“roads”)
which criss-cross the country at high speeds (reaching over 100 mph). When a
mentally-unstable engineer named Van Kleek organizes a revolt amongst the
workers, the union workers cause one of the roads to suddenly stop (which
causes many casualties). The Chief Engineer, Gaines, eventually makes his way
to a meeting with Van Kleek. By preying on Van Kleek’s psychological
weaknesses, Gaines eventually disarms Van Kleek, and the “rolling roads” are
restored back to normal service.
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| Charles Schneeman |
"Asylum" (A. E. van Vogt, Astounding Science-Fiction, May 1942)
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Two blood-drinking aliens (Dreeghs named Jeel and Merla) land on Earth in
their spacecraft and begin to search for fresh prey. After draining two
victims, they begin to search for a reporter who might be able to give them
information about the presence of their enemies, the Galactic Observers.
- The two bodies are investigated by a reporter named Leigh. Leigh is soon contacted by a strange woman and invited to a private rendezvous at a fancy restaurant.
- The woman leads Leigh down a secret tunnel which leads to the Dreeghs' spaceship. While the girl goes inside to arrest the Dreeghs, Leigh watches from outside. Unfortunately, they are soon forced to retreat.
- Back on the street, the female wipes part of Leigh's memory and takes off in an aircar. In frustration, Leigh calls the police, hoping he can at least report on part of the story he remembers.
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Unfortunately, Leigh is soon captured by Jeel and Merla and forced to help
them deduce that the girl, Patricia, is the daughter of this region's
Galactic Observer, a scientist named Ungarn. They decide to mesmerize Leigh
in order to get to Ungarn, who lives on an asteroid near Europa.
- Leigh gets to Ungarn's asteroid by accompanying a supply pilot named Hanardy. Once there, he tries to ambush Patricia but she sees through his ploy. Just as she is about to force him to leave in a spaceship, he somehow finds himself on Patricia's doorstep again.
- After some episodes of mental confusion, Leigh finds himself a prisoner of the Dreeghs. During a moment alone with Merla, Leigh somehow sucks the energy out of Merla, and begins to exhibit superhuman abilities. A part of his mind suddenly awakens and he realizes that he has always been a member of the Great Galactic, an interstellar race of advanced beings who hunt down the Dreeghs. His unconscious mission for the last few years had been to pose as an Earthman named Leigh in order to draw the Dreeghs into a trap. After the Dreeghs are defeated, Leigh's false personality is reluctantly reabsorbed into the Great Galactic's consciousness.
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| Frank Kramer |
"Quietus" (Ross Rocklynne, Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1940)
Sometime in the future, an apocalypse has killed off almost all life on Earth. One day, a mentally-dull young man named Tommy (the last of his kind as far as he knows) and his friend Blacky, a crow, discover tracks in the ground, apparently those of the last living female human on the planet. As they try to follow and befriend her, two bird-like aliens from the planet Alcon arrive on Earth on a sightseeing venture. They happen to spot Blacky "talking" to Tommy (using mimicry) and assume the crow is the last intelligent life-form on the planet. When Blacky scares away the girl during Tommy's pursuit of his "Eve", Tommy angrily throws stones at the crow in frustration. Seeing this, the female Alcon kills Tommy, believing him to be an out-of-control beast. The male Alcon is saddened when they eventually realize that the crow is not intelligent after all and that they have killed off the chances for man to rise again on Earth.
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| Paul Orban |
"The Twonky" (Henry Kuttner, Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1942)
A being from another dimension accidentally arrives in a radio-phonograph manufacturing plant on Earth. Before he realizes that he is in the wrong universe, he completes the construction of a "Twonky", a device from his own universe (used in kindergartens) but which in his confusion he fashions in the same shape and appearance as a radio-phonograph. Soon, the being returns to his own dimension, leaving behind the Twonky. Later, a man named Kerry buys the Twonky, believing it to be a normal radio-phonograph. However, the device soon begins walking around his house and doing chores. Even worse, it begins to monitor and limit Kerry's selection of music and reading material (as if he were a child). Eventually, it begins to brainwash its owner into a form of alien docility. When Kerry's colleague and wife arrive and try to destroy the device with an axe, it disintegrates them. After Kerry is also soon disintegrated, his home and its furnishings go on the market. When a new young couple buy the furnished house, the device prepares to itself to receive new guests/patients.
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| Don Hewitt |
"Time-Travel Happens!" (Alexander M. Phillips, Unknown, December 1939)
In the early 20th century, two women in Versailles taking a stroll through the Trianon briefly find themselves amidst a scene from a century earlier. No explanation is ever found for this brief experience (which is repeated a couple times in the years to come), except that an electrical storm had been reported on the day of their excursion.
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| Charles Schneeman |
"Robot's Return" (Robert Moore Williams, Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1938)
After more than 8000 years, a group of robots from outside the solar system return to Earth, rumored to be their home planet. There they find only ruins, and find it hard to believe that their mechanical race had originated there, as they only find brainless machines and no robots. They eventually find a sign stating that, due to a world plague, a few "men" had fled in a spaceship. The robots realize that they are the descendants of the robots who had accompanied these refugees into space.
|
| W. A. Koll |
"The Blue Giraffe" (L. Sprague de Camp, Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1939)
In a wildlife preserve in South Africa, a scientist named Hickey conducts experiments in radiation which end up causing odd mutations in the jungle animals. After Hickey dies, his equipment remains on, causing the mutations to continue for several years. One day, a British scientist named Cuff is called in by the locals to investigate the cause of these mutations, amongst them a blue giraffe. Cuff eventually finds himself captured by a race of baboon-men, and involuntarily betrothed to a baboon-woman. Eventually he escapes, and after turning off Hickey's machine, he helps to establish an understanding between the workers at the preserve and the baboon-people.
|
| Frank Kramer |
"Flight Into Darkness" (J. Francis McComas,
Astounding Science Fiction, February 1943)
Fascist scientists defeated in an earlier war are forced to work in factories for their conquerors. However, they secretly build a rocketship, designed to take their followers to another planet in order that they can conquer it and then later return for revenge. Eventually, they are found out, but they take off anyways. In a sacrificial move, one man takes up a small plane and rams it in mid-air, causing it to explode.
|
| William Timmins |
"The Weapons Shop" (A. E. van Vogt, Astounding Science-Fiction, Dec 1942)
In the harmonious village of Glay, built in homage to the Empress Isher, a "weapons shop" suddenly appears. A law-abiding man named Fara (who holds the Empress in high esteem) becomes angry at this affront to the power of the Empire and confronts the store owner. However, after being briefly interrogated by the store owner and his colleague, Fara is soon ejected from the premises. In the following days, events occur which ruin his town reputation and destroy his relationship with his rebellious son. Eventually, his son moves away to a more urban area, and becomes caught in a plot which causes Fara to lose his repair shop to a rival. With his life in ruins, his "friends" suggest to Fara that he go back to the weapon shop to purchase a gun, presumably to commit suicide with. He goes to the shop where he is sold a gun, but then taken on a bizarre journey where he learns that his revered Empire has been behind thousands of swindles against its own citizens, and that the weapon shops (spread throughout the Empire) are base stations for a secret resistance group aiming to open the eyes of the Empire's most devoted citizens and arm them with weapons with which to fight for their individual rights. Now fully convinced of the weapon shops' cause (which is shared by his helpful friends), Fara gladly uses his new gun to stand his ground against the local constables.
|
| Frank Kramer |
"Farewell to the Master" (Harry Bates, Astounding Science Fiction,
October 1940)
-
A "time-space vehicle" suddenly appears in Washington D.C. From it emerges
an angelic being calling himself Klaatu as well as a giant green robot named
Gnut. Unfortunately, a maniac shoots and kills Klaatu. In the ensuing weeks,
Gnut makes no further movements and a museum is built around the ship and
its lone guardian. One day, a reporter named Cliff Sutherland notices that
Gnut has moved slightly over the previous day.
- That night, Cliff hides himself in the museum after closing, and witnesses Gnut go into Klaatu's strange vehicle, after which a short time later a mockingbird and a raging gorilla appear. Both animals are killed in unavoidable accidents, after which Gnut returns to his former position.
- The next day, news of the destruction wrought by the gorilla's rampage breaks. Cliff decides to hide out in the museum a second night so that he can get some photographs.
- That night Cliff sees a museum technician named Stillwell emerge from the ship. Stillwell almost immediately drops dead, after which Gnut places his body next to that of the mockingbird, the gorilla and a double of Stillwell. Horrified, Cliff flees the museum, but later gives his story to the public.
- While the military decide to encase Gnut in "glasstex", the real Stillwell surfaces, implying that Gnut's Stillwells were duplicates.
- That night, Stillwell watches while the army has its guns trained on Gnut. Gnut eventually melts his way out of his transparent plastic prison, puts Cliff on its shoulders (to protect itself from artillery fire) and crosses the Basin to briefly visit the marble monument in which Klaatu had been entombed. He removes a small recording of Klaatu's initial greeting to mankind (on a device stored with the alien's body) and returns to its ship. Cliff also enters.
- Inside, Cliff discovers that Gnut has revived a copy of Klaatu based on the recordings taken of the alien by Earthmen at the time of his arrival. However, due to the primitive nature of the recordings, Gnut's recreations always die shortly after their "birth". Cliff helps Gnut obtain the exact equipment used to film and record Klaatu so that the robot can account for discrepancies produced by the recording media, and thus create a perfect replica of Klaatu. Just before Gnut departs in his ship, Cliff asks Gnut to tell its masters that the shooting of Klaatu had been an accident, but Gnut tells him that it is the master, not Klaatu.
|
| Elliott Dold Jr. |
"Within the Pyramid" (R. DeWitt Miller, Astounding Stories, March
1937)
A scientist named Matthews learns of a mysterious pyramid in the jungles of South America which dwarfs those in Egypt. He finds a man named Hexter who leads him inside the pyramid and shows him four strange caskets containing six-fingered alien humanoids. Matthews is eager to break open the caskets, but Hexter theorizes that these aliens had landed on Earth thousands of years ago, and due to the lack of some essential ingredient, were doomed to die. They had then decided to put themselves into suspended animation and create a giant pyramid around them in the hopes that they would be noticed by a rescue party from their home planet someday in the future. Hexter notes that if alien rescuers return and discover their brethren displayed in museums, they might become very angry. Matthews agrees to keep the existence of the pyramid a secret.
|
| Leo Morey |
The narrator visits a scientist who believes that the universe is only an atom which is part of a larger universe. He also believes that the reverse is true, that microscopic universes exist in atoms. Since he does not have the technology to go beyond the stars to penetrate the far reaches of the universe, he has invented a way to enter the “micro” universe with a chemical (“Shrinx”) which can reduce the distances between constituent particles. The narrator is involuntarily injected by the scientist with the Shrinx serum and begins shrinking until he lands in a microverse populated by intelligent gaseous aliens. He continues shrinking and next ends up in a world populated by giant beasts and barbarians. Shrinking again, he encounters a planet of bird-people who have apparently experienced a robot revolt and are migrating off-world to escape their predatory creation. The narrator continues shrinking and experiences many other adventures. Finally, he shrinks down to a blue world orbiting a yellow sun, and the reader realizes that the narrator is not human. The narrator arrives on Earth and describes his story to a science-fiction writer through a hypnotic trance. The writer publishes the story, written from the point of view of the alien.
|
| Hubert Rogers |
"By His Bootstraps" (Robert A. Heinlein, Astounding Science Fiction,
October 1941)
A man named Wilson is visited by several iterations of his future self, who arrive via a "time gate" from 30 thousand years in the future. The visits eventually put Wilson on a path where he travels through the gate to the future and then returns to his original time to act out his actions as the future selves who had visited him in the first place. Seeking to take advantage of the Time Gate and escape the "Diktor" (ruler) of the future time he finds himself in, he eventually travels to the future a third time and then goes backwards 10 years. The Earth at this time is populated by docile humans with no drives, and Wilson uses his 20th century sensibilities to make himself a Diktor. 10 years later, he encounters the first of his visits from the 20th century and realizes that he has been Diktor all along. He wonders at how this cyclic sequence of events ever got started in the first place, but is unable to come up with any answers. In any case, he continues to orchestrate the rest of the events which would eventually lead up to his current existence as Diktor.
|
| Don Lynch |
"The Star Mouse" (Fredric Brown, Planet Stories, Spring 1942)
An eccentric scientist named Oberburger develops a rocket which he hopes will reach the moon. After placing a mouse named Mitkey into it, he launches it, but the rocket lands on an uncharted asteroid named Prxl, which is populated by an advanced race of half-inch tall creatures. The Prxlians realize that the rocket is from Earth, and in order to gain information about Earth they amplify Mitkey's intelligence to human levels (so that they can interrogate it). Mitkey eventually desires to return to Earth with the intelligence device so that all of his fellow mice can be similarly educated. In the meantime, Oberburger makes a pet of Mitkey's mate and keeps her surrounded with an electrified fence. When Mitkey returns to Oberburger, he explains to his stunned former host that he intends to make Australia into a new home for intelligent mice. However, when Mitkey rushes toward his mate's container, the electric shock reverts his increased intelligence. Oberburger opines that it is probably best this way in the end.
|
| A. Williams |
"Correspondence Course" (Raymond F. Jones,
Astounding Science Fiction, April 1945)
Jim Ward returns from military service after losing his wife in a battle and becoming crippled himself. With no future prospects he on a whim enrolls in a strange correspondence course by mail. The course reveals the secrets of an advanced form of science, prompting Jim to seek out the author of the course. Jim is eventually led to a strange structure in the wilderness and instructed to do some repair work using the knowledge he had learned in the course. It turns out that he has been receiving education from an alien slug-like creature who had crash-landed on Earth and needs a human to effect repairs. Jim asks the creature to share the secrets of space travel with him so that he can help mankind leap forward into the stars. Since the creature is dying, it asks to "bond" with Jim's consciousness to live in a symbiotic relationship with him, after which they can repair the ship and explore the universe together. Missing his dead wife, Jim agrees and finally feels fulfilled in his life.
|
| Rees |
"Brain" (from The New Gods Lead, S. Fowler Wright, 1932)
Sometime in the future, a group of ruthless scientists use the threat of weapons
of mass destruction to take over the world. Afterwards, their leader, Brisket,
begins developing a formula which will increase the intelligence of its
subjects. He also develops a solution which will induce total docility and
generosity towards mankind (as a method by which to counter the intelligence
drug should his enemies get their hands on it). He first tests the intelligence
formula on a pig and the experiment is a great success. Emboldened, he injects
himself and increases his own intelligence. He then decides to take an
additional dose at the next council meeting to demonstrate his powers and
silence his enemies among the other scientists. Meanwhile, in order to prevent
her eventual slaughter, the pig switches the intelligence and docility formulas,
hoping that the docility drug will inspire Brisket to spare her from the
butcher. In the next council meeting, Brisket injects himself with the docility
formula and is overcome with feelings of humanitarianism. When his colleagues
vote him out of power, he realizes that their method of rule should be destroyed
for the good of humanity and triggers a fail-safe weapon which kills himself and
his fellow scientists.
For historical analysis purposes, the stories are listed below in
order of publication:
1932:00: "Brain" by S. Fowler Wright
1934.04: "A Matter of Size" by Harry Bates
1936.08: "He Who Shrank" by Henry Hasse
1937.03: "Within the Pyramid" by R. DeWitt Miller
1937.04: "The Sands of Time" by P. Schuyler Miller
1937.06: "Forgetfulness" by John W. Campbell, Jr.
1938.06: "Seeds of the Dusk" by Raymond Z. Gallun
1938.08: "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr.
1938.09: "Robot's Return" by Robert Moore Williams
1939.07: "Black Destroyer" by A. E. van Vogt
1939.08: "Heavy Planet" by Milton A. Rothman
1939.08: "The Blue Giraffe" by L. Sprague de Camp
1939.12: "Time-Travel Happens!" by Alexander M. Phillips (non-fiction)
1940.01: "Requiem" by Robert A. Heinlein
1940.06: "The Roads Must Roll" by Robert A. Heinlein
1940.09: "Quietus" by Ross Rocklynne
1940.10: "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates
1941.01: "Mechanical Mice" by Maurice G. Hugi & Eric Frank Russell
1941.09: "Adam and No Eve" by Alfred Bester
1941.09: "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov
1941.10: "By His Bootstraps" by Robert A. Heinlein
1942.03: "The Star Mouse" by Fredric Brown
1942.05: "Asylum" by A. E. van Vogt
1942.08: "The Link" by Cleve Cartmill
1942.09: "Nerves" by Lester del Rey
1942.10: "The Twonky" by Henry Kuttner
1942.12: "The Weapons Shop" by A. E. van Vogt
1943.01: "Time Locker" by Henry Kuttner
1943.02: "Flight Into Darkness" by J. Francis McComas
1943.03: "Q. U. R." by Anthony Boucher
1943.10: "Symbiotica" by Eric Frank Russell
1943.10: "The Proud Robot" by Henry Kuttner
1944.01: "As Never Was" by P. Schuyler Miller
1945.04: "Correspondence Course" by Raymond F. Jones
1945.05: "V-2 Rocket Cargo Ship" by Willy Ley (non-fiction)
