Charles A. Stearns 20 min read

Wordsley and Captain DeCastros cross half a universe, suffer hardship, face unknown dangers, and all for what? A breath of rare perfume.

Charles A. Stearns's 1957 story is a wry, atmospheric space-opera adventure. Clever, engaging golden-age SF. Read it for a genial tale where an ingenious engineer and his captain voyage into the blackness beyond the stars, and the strangely poignant object of their long and perilous quest proves to be a scent.

In its time

Published in 1957, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Leo Summers