The Gun

By Philip K. Dick

The Gun is one of the first short stories of Philip K. Dick, published in 1952.

A group of space explorers investigate a deserted planet and crash on it after being shot down.

Why are there ruins of an ancient city around them ? And what is this thing which has the shape of a massive gun ?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orpheus Editions
• Release date: Feb 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9788835376286

Philip K. Dick

Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

Book preview

THE GUN

By PHILIP K. DICK

Copyright © Orpheus Editions 2020.

Nothing moved or stirred. Everything was silent, dead. Only the gun showed signs of life ... and the trespassers had wrecked that for all time. The return journey to pick up the treasure would be a cinch ... they smiled.

The Captain peered into the eyepiece of the telescope. He adjusted the focus quickly.

It was an atomic fission we saw, all right, he said presently. He sighed and pushed the eyepiece away. Any of you who wants to look may do so. But it's not a pretty sight.

Let me look, Tance the archeologist said. He bent down to look, squinting. Good Lord! He leaped violently back, knocking against Dorle, the Chief Navigator.

Why did we come all this way, then? Dorle asked, looking around at the other men. There's no point even in landing. Let's go back at once.

Perhaps he's right, the biologist murmured. But I'd like to look for myself, if I may. He pushed past Tance and peered into the sight.

He saw a vast expanse, an endless surface of gray, stretching to the edge of the planet. At first he thought it was water but after a moment he realized that it was slag, pitted, fused slag, broken only by hills of rock jutting up at intervals. Nothing moved or stirred. Everything was silent, dead.

I see, Fomar