Frank Belknap Long 39 min read

Court-martialed for refusing to fire on an alien ship, Captain Ralph Langford must break free to investigate a menace from beyond that may be the most terrible men have faced.

Frank Belknap Long's 1950 story is a rousing first-contact space opera. Vivid, driven golden-age SF. Read it for a fast-moving tale of a principled officer defying orders to uncover the truth about an alien threat, in a colorful golden-age adventure of suspicion, courage, and a menace stranger than anyone imagines.

In its time

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

Reading it

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