PDF Books in Space Opera Fiction
The Old Ones
by Betsy CurtisDr. Warner didn't usually burst into Dr. Farrar's office. Usually he paced slowly up the hospital corridor, pulling down his glistening white lastijac uniform, meditating on all the mistakes he might have made during the past week, reluctantly turning the knob on the outer door, hesitatingly asking Miss Herrington if the doctor wished to see him no..
The Bloodhounds of Zirth
by Lloyd PalmerThere was silence in the grim room broken only by the riffle of filing cards from the corner where a trusty, in gray uniform, sat working at a small desk. Warden Hughes sat at his large desk, idly fingering a small scale-model of a space ship which he used for a paperweight. Across the desk from him, in a stiff-backed, plastic-covered chair, sat Gr..
The Brave Walk Alone
by John McGreeveyDirk Jemson pressed his forehead against the cool metal of the astro-chart and hoped that he was not going to be sick. At any moment, the space cruiser would be entering the gravity field of Caliban, and if he were ordered to assume control ... he shuddered at the prospect.Around him in the cabin, the other members of the crew went quietly about th..
The Barrier
by Bryce WaltonDoris would, of course, say goodbye, if she were here. She wasn't here. She didn't even know about his volunteering. Major Kanin nodded stiffly. His gray eyes wrinkled. "Good luck, Stevens," he said dutifully. It was meaningless. Kanin had sent too many poor guys out on a one-way trip. He knew Stevens wouldn't come down. Not in any recognizab..
Synthetic Hero
by Bryce WaltonEvery day people travel great distances to stand in silence before the statue at Southwestern Spaceport. It is a shrine. The figure stands with arms raised in an upreaching, yearning gesture that invokes thoughts of man's potential greatness, and the face seen beneath the helmet wears an expression of inspired nobility and idealism. In the indestru..
Give Back a World
by Raymond Z. GallunRed signal lights winked on, on the white walls that surrounded the tiers of bunks there in the belly of the Sun Child. Tension sharpened. Crap and card games broke up. Last-minute checking of gear and weapons was dropped, as five hundred men of the Survey Service climbed into their bunks for the deceleration.This would be only the second time that..
Murderer's Base
by William J. BrittainHe did not remember exactly when the idea of killing Hervey occurred to him. Probably, though, it had been that day at Hermes Station, when the wrench had slipped from his grasp as he worked on the tower; it had drifted lightly down and struck Hervey a glancing blow on the helmet. They had laughed about it, and Hervey had said, "If we were under gr..
Homecoming Horde
by Robert SilverbergHaverford had been amused, at first. A solitary recluse, he had little dealings with his fellow men, at least not in person. The costly ham set that occupied nearly a third of his one-room flat was his sole contact. Through radio he kept in regular touch with "friends" in Yokohama and Buenos Aires, Texas and Oregon, while actually leaving the confi..