The Iron Star: A Short Story

By Robert Silverberg

An alien race makes a chilling first impression in this story that “evokes difficult moral issues” from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author (SF Site).
 
A corporate ship’s complicated business venture involves the experimental use of new technology to scoop a sample from the core of a neutron star. The discovery of a dead civilization on a nearby solar system serves as a fascinating distraction. The same can’t be said for the alien spaceship circling around them. Becoming the first expedition from Earth to encounter extraterrestrial life is not on the agenda—and the crewmembers find themselves out of their depth.
 
Treading a fine line between diplomacy and danger, the chief executive officer of the mission—a man of Sioux ancestry—decides to open up lines of communication with the aliens. And though they may be more advanced than humanity, the aliens’ account of past actions calls to mind a dark age in human history, one that the CEO will make sure is never repeated. Not on his watch . . .  
 
“With this story, Silverberg proves he knows his science and is willing to do a story grounded in hard sf.” —MarzAat
 
Praise for Robert Silverberg and his short stories
 
“When Silverberg is at the top of his form, no one is better.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author
 
“Silverberg’s creative story premises are matched by a remarkable ability to make his characters sympathetic, whether human or not.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“Decades after being originally published, most of these stories are still just as entertaining and powerful as they were when first released. A singularly unique collection.” —Kirkus Reviews
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Aug 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781504086479

Robert Silverberg

<p>Robert Silverberg has won five Nebula Awards, four Hugo Awards, and the prestigious <em>Prix Apollo.</em> He is the author of more than one hundred science fiction and fantasy novels -- including the best-selling Lord Valentine trilogy and the classics <em>Dying Inside</em> and <em>A Time of Changes</em> -- and more than sixty nonfiction works. Among the sixty-plus anthologies he has edited are <em>Legends</em> and <em>Far Horizons,</em> which contain original short stories set in the most popular universe of Robert Jordan, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, Orson Scott Card, and virtually every other bestselling fantasy and SF writer today. Mr. Silverberg's Majipoor Cycle, set on perhaps the grandest and greatest world ever imagined, is considered one of the jewels in the crown of speculative fiction.</p>

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