Salvage in Space

By Jack Williamson

To Thad Allen, meteor miner, comes the dangerous bonanza of a derelict rocket-flier manned by death invisible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Booklassic
• Release date: Jun 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9789635244928

Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson published his first short story in 1928, and he's been producing entertaining, thought-provoking science fiction ever since. He is the author of Terraforming Earth. The second person named Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America--the first was Robert A. Heinlein--Williamson has always been in the forefront of the field, being the first to write fiction about genetic engineering (he invented the term), anti-matter, and other cutting-edge science. A renaissance man, Williamson is a master of fantasy and horror as well as science fiction. He lives in Portales, New Mexico.

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978-963-524-492-8

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Astounding Stories March 1933. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

His planet was the smallest in the solar system, and the loneliest, Thad Allen was thinking, as he straightened wearily in the huge, bulging, inflated fabric of his Osprey space armor. Walking awkwardly in the magnetic boots that held him to the black mass of meteoric iron, he mounted a projection and stood motionless, staring moodily away through the vision panels of his bulky helmet into the dark mystery of the void.

His welding arc dangled at his belt, the electrode still glowing red. He had just finished securing to this slowly-accumulated mass of iron his most recent find, a meteorite the size of his head.

Five perilous weeks he had labored, to collect this rugged lump of metal—a jagged mass, some ten feet in diameter, composed of hundreds of fragments, that he had captured and welded together. His luck had not been good. His findings had been heart-breakingly small; the spectro-flash analysis had revealed that the content of the precious metals was disappointingly minute.[1]

On the other side of this tiny sphere of hard-won treasure, his Millen atomic rocket was sputtering, spurts of hot blue flame jetting from its exhaust. A simple mechanism, bolted to the first sizable fragment he had captured, it drove the iron ball through space like a ship.

Through the magnetic soles of his insulated boots, Thad could feel the vibration of the iron mass, beneath the rocket's regular thrust. The magazine of uranite fuel capsules was nearly empty, now, he reflected. He would soon have to turn back toward Mars.

Turn back. But how could he, with so slender a reward for his efforts? Meteor mining is expensive. There was his bill at Millen and Helion, Mars, for uranite and supplies. And the unpaid last instalment on his Osprey suit. How could he outfit himself again, if he returned with no more metal than this? There were men who averaged a thousand tons of iron a month. Why couldn't fortune smile on him?

He knew men who had made fabulous strikes, who had captured whole planetoids of rich metal, and he knew weary, white-haired men who had braved the perils of vacuum and absolute cold and bullet-swift meteors for hard years, who still hoped.

But sometime fortune had to smile, and then… .

The picture came to him. A tower of white metal, among the low red hills near Helion. A slim, graceful tower of argent,

Reviews for Salvage in Space

[clark7hallman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Salvage in Space, by Jack Williamson, was first published in the March (1933) issue of Astounding Stories. It is an enjoyable short story in the space-opera genre from the legendary science fiction author. Thad Allen, a meteor miner, has worked long lonely weeks in space collecting pieces and particles of iron and other valuable metals, which he welds onto the ball of metal that he refers to as the smallest planet in the solar system. He lives, sleeps and works on the ball of metal that he has constructed with only his space suit to protect him from the hostile environment of space and his magnetic boots to keep him from floating away. He is disappointed by the small amount of valuable metal that he has collected to sell for salvage and his supplies are running low, which means he will need to return to Earth very soon. Amazingly, he spots a large shiny object moving through space, which could be very lucrative for him if he can intercept it and manage to get it to port. The small rocket he attached to his ball of metal enables him to rendezvous with the object. However, his joy turns to terror once he begins trying to retrieve his salvage bonanza. This thirty-page story is a fun read, with lots of interesting science fiction and some life-threatening suspense and action.