Damon Knight - Sci-Fi Classics - Illustrated Anthology

Ray Bradbury, Leigh Brackett, Poul Anderson, Jerome Bixby, Clifford D. Simak, Damon Knight, Frederik Pohl, Gardner F. Fox

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EAN 4066338116703

Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury Table of Contents

Jonah of the Jove-Run

Zero Hour

Rocket Summer

Lorelei of the Red Mist

The Creatures That Time Forgot

Asleep in Armageddon

Defense Mech

Lazarus Come Forth

Morgue Ship

The Monster Maker

A Little Journey

Leigh Brackett

Black Amazon of Mars

Child of the Sun

Citadel of Lost Ships

Enchantress of Venus

Last Call From Sector 9G

Outpost on Io

Queen of the Martian Catacombs

Shannach

Terror Out of Space

The Beast-Jewel of Mars

The Blue Behemoth

The Dragon-Queen of Jupiter

The Jewel of Bas

The Stellar Legion

The Vanishing Venusians

Thralls of the Endless Night

Poul Anderson

Captive of the Centaurianess

Lord of a Thousand Sun

Out of the Iron Womb

Sargasso of Lost Starships

Star Ship

Swordsman of Lost Terra

The Virgin of Valkarion

Tiger by the Tail

Witch of the Demon Seas

Jerome Bixby

Cargo to Callisto

Tubemonkey

The Crowded Colony

Vengeance on Mars

Clifford D. Simak

Message From Mars

Mr. Meek Plays Polo

Mr. Meek—Musketeer

The Shipshape Miracle

Damon Knight

The Star Beast

Doorway to Kal-Jmar

The Third Little Green Man

The Avenger

Frederik Pohl

Asteroid of the Damned

Conspiracy on Callisto

Double-Cross

Let the Ants Try

Gardner F. Fox

When Kohonnes Screamed

The Warlock of Sharrador

Werwile of the Crystal Crypt

Sword of the Seven Suns

Vassals of the Lode-Star

Engines of the Gods by Gardner

Tonight the Stars Revolt!

The Last Monster

Man nth

The Man the Sun-Gods Made

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Nibley stood in the changing shadows and sounds of Marsport, watching the great supply ship TERRA being entered and left by a number of officials and mechanics. Something had happened. Something was wrong. There were a lot of hard faces and not much talk. There was a bit of swearing and everybody looked up at the night sky of Mars, waiting.

But nobody came to Nibley for his opinion or his help. He stood there, a very old man, with a slack-gummed face and eyes like the little bubbly stalks of crayfish looking up at you from a clear creek. He stood there fully neglected. He stood there and talked to himself.

"They don't want me, or need me," he said. "Machines are better, nowadays. Why should they want an old man like me with a taste for Martian liquor? They shouldn't! A machine isn't old and foolish, and doesn't get drunk!"

Way out over the dead sea bottoms, Nibley sensed something moving. Part of himself was suddenly awake and sensitive. His small sharp eyes moved in his withered face. Something inside of his small skull reacted and he shivered. He knew . He knew that what these men were watching and waiting for would never come.

Nibley edged up to one of the astrogators from the TERRA. He touched him on the shoulder. "Say," he said. "I'm busy," said the astrogator. "I know," said Nibley, "but if you're waiting for that small repair rocket to come through with the extra auxiliary asteroid computator on it, you're wasting your time."

"Like hell," said the astrogator, glaring at the old man. "That repair rocket's got to come through, and quick; we need it. It'll get here."

"No, it won't," said Nibley, sadly, and shook his head and closed his eyes. "It just crashed, a second ago, out on the dead sea bottom. I— felt —it crash. I sensed it going down. It'll never come through."

"Go away, old man," said the astrogator. "I don't want to hear that kind of talk. It'll come through. Sure, sure, it has to come through." The astrogator turned away and looked at the sky, smoking a cigarette.

"I know it as a fact," said Nibley, but the young astrogator wouldn't listen. He didn't want to hear the truth. The truth was not a pleasant thing. Nibley went on, to himself. "I know it for a fact, just like I was always able to know the course of meteors with my mind, or the orbits or parabolas of asteroids. I tell you—"

The men stood around waiting and smoking. They didn't know yet about the crash out there. Nibley felt a great sorrow rise in himself for them. That ship meant a great deal to them and now it had crashed. Perhaps their lives had crashed with it.

A loud speaker on the outer area of the landing tarmac opened out with a voice: "Attention, crew of the Terra. The repair ship just radioed in a report that it has been fired upon from somewhere over the dead seas. It crashed a minute ago."

The report was so sudden and quiet and matter-of-fact that the standing smoking men did not for a moment understand it.

Then, each in his own way, they reacted to it. Some of them ran for the radio building to verify the report. Others sat down and put their hands over their faces. Still more of them stood staring at the sky as if staring might put the repair ship back together again and get it here safe and intact. Instinctively, at last, all of them looked up at the sky.

Jupiter was there, with its coterie of moons, bright and far away. Part of their lives lived on Jupiter. Most of them had children and wives there and certain duties to perform to insure the longevity of said children and wives. Now, with the speaking of a few words over a loudspeaker, the distance to Jupiter was suddenly an immense impossibility.

The captain of the Rocket Terra walked across the field slowly. He stopped several times to try and light a cigarette, but the night wind blew it out. He stood in the rocket shadow and looked up at Jupiter and swore quietly, again and again and finally threw down his cigarette and heeled it with his shoe.

Nibley walked up and stood beside the captain.

"Captain Kroll...."

Kroll turned. "Oh, hello, Grandpa—"

"Tough luck."

"Yeah. Yeah. I guess that's what you'd call it. Tough luck."

"You're going to take off anyway, Captain?"

"Sure," said Kroll quietly, looking at the sky. "Sure."

"How's the protective computator on board your ship?"

"Not so hot. Bad, in fact. It might conk out before we get half way through the asteroids."

"That's not good," said Nibley.

"It's lousy. I feel sick. I need a drink. I wish I was dead. I wish we'd never started this damned business of being damned pioneers. My family's up there!" He jerked his hand half way to Jupiter, violently. He settled down and tried to light another cigarette. No go. He threw it down after the other.

"Can't get through the asteroids without an asteroid computator to protect you, without that old radar set-up, captain," said Nibley, blinking wetly. He shuffled his small feet around in the red dust.

"We had an auxiliary computator on that repair ship coming from Earth," said Kroll, standing there. "And it had to crash."

"The Martians shoot it down, you think?"