Robert Emmett McDowell 43 min read

Buoyant after two years on Jupiter, Clyde Vickers shuffles down the gangplank onto Luna, then curses under his breath at the ISP officer checking passports at the foot of the ramp.

Robert Emmett McDowell's 1950 story opens on unease at a lunar spaceport, building a psi-and-space-opera tale of intrigue. Sharp, atmospheric golden-age SF. Read it for a story where a returning spacer's dread at a routine passport check hints at treachery in the offing.

In its time

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

Reading it

43 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).

Illustrated by

Earl Mayan