Charles E. Fritch 23 min read

Four billion miles out, bound for Arcturus, the passenger liner shudders and cuts its subspace drive for 'mechanical difficulties', no cause for alarm, the voice says.

Charles E. Fritch's 1954 story opens on a bickering couple aboard a starliner as trouble develops in the void. Tense, atmospheric golden-age space opera with a domestic frame. Read it for a well-turned tale where a routine crossing turns dangerous far from any help.

In its time

Published in 1954, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

23 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

W. E. Terry