More than a dozen spaceships have disappeared into hyperspace, never to return. The lost vessels include the Jason, the Starbird, and the Invincible. Everyone assumes they fell victim to some kind of mechanical failure.
The mystery deepens when the Invincible turns up drifting in space six months after it vanished. The ship's engines are undamaged, the hull intact — yet no trace remains of its crew or its two hundred passengers. Where have they gone?
Clearly something ominous has happened to the ship and the people on board.
Something in hyperspace...or somebody!
Release date:
January 30, 2014
Publisher:
Gateway
Print pages:
199
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The Cap Kennedy (F.A.T.E.) Series (E.C. Tubb writing as Gregory Kern)
1: Galaxy of the Lost (1973)
2: Slave Ship from Sergan (1973)
3: Monster of Metelaze (1973)
4: Enemy Within the Skull (1974)
5: Jewel of Jarhen (1974)
6: Seetee Alert! (1974)
7: The Gholan Gate (1974)
8: The Eater of Worlds (1974)
9: Earth Enslaved (1974)
10: Planet of Dread (1974)
11: Spawn of Laban (1974)
12: The Genetic Buccaneer (1974)
13: A World Aflame (1974)
14: The Ghosts of Epidoris (1975)
15: Mimics of Dephene (1975)
16: Beyond the Galactic Lens (1975)
17: The Galactiad (1983)
Alien Dust (1955)
Alien Impact (1952)
Journey Into Terror (originally published as Alien Life (1954, rev 1998))
Atom War on Mars (1952)
Fear of Strangers (first published as C.O.D. - Mars (1968))
Century of the Manikin (1972)
City of No Return (1954)
Death God’s Doom (1999)
Death is a Dream (1967)
Dead Weight (first published as Death Wears a White Face (1979))
Escape into Space (1969)
Footsteps of Angels (2004) (previously unpublished work written c.1988)
Hell Planet (1954)
Journey to Mars (1954)
Moon Base (1964)
Pandora’s Box (1996) (previously unpublished work written 1954)
Pawn of the Omphalos (1980)
S.T.A.R. Flight (1969)
Stardeath (1983)
Starslave (2010) (previously unpublished work written 1984)
Stellar Assignment (1979)
Temple of Death (1996) (previously unpublished work written 1954)
Fifty Days to Doom (first published as The Extra Man (1954))
The Life-Buyer (1965, 2008)
The Luck Machine (1980)
World in Torment (originally published as The Mutants Rebel (1953))
The Primitive (1977)
The Resurrected Man (1954)
The Sleeping City (1999)
The Space-Born (1956)
The Stellar Legion (1954)
To Dream Again (2011)
Venusian Adventure (1953)
Tide of Death (first published as World at Bay (1954))
E. C. Tubb (writing as Arthur MacLean)
The Possessed (revised version of Touch of Evil (1957))
E. C. Tubb (writing as Brian Shaw)
Argentis (1952)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Carl Maddox)
Menace from the Past (1954)
The Living World (1954)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Charles Grey)
Dynasty of Doom (1953)
The Extra Man (first published as Enterprise 2115 (1954) & then as The Mechanical Monarch (1958))
I Fight for Mars (1953)
Space Hunger (1953)
The Hand of Havoc (1954)
Secret of the Towers (originally published as The Tormented City (1953))
The Wall (1953)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Gill Hunt)
Planetfall (1951)
E. C. Tubb (writing as King Lang)
Saturn Patrol (1951)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Roy Sheldon)
The Metal Eater (1954)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Volsted Gridban)
The Green Helix (originally published as Alien Universe (1952))
Reverse Universe (1952)
Planetoid Disposals Ltd. (1953)
The Freedom Army (originally published as De Bracy’s Drug (1953))
Fugitive of Time (1953)
The missing ships
THE sound was a thin, high-pitched keening; a grating whine, hovering on the very edge of audibility. It sang from the metal of the deck plates and bulkheads, whispered from the layers of thick insulation, quivered from the very air. It was a nerve-racking sound; vibrating through flesh and bone and sinew, sending little trickles of irritation running over tender skin and jarring at unstable emotions. Yet it was a good sound, for while they heard it they were safe.
Caleb leaned back in the cushioned softness of the pilot’s chair and grinned at Wilner. “It won’t be long now,” he said reassuringly. “This hop is almost over.”
“Good!” The astrogator shifted nervously in his seat and ran a hand through his thin red hair. A thick scattering of freckles stood clearly against the stark whiteness of his skin, and high on one cheek a muscle twitched in a nervous spasm.
“I don’t know how you can stand it,” he complained. “I’m not used to these long hops, yet they don’t seem to affect you at all.”
“I’m in a hurry,” Caleb said simply. He stared morosely at the rows of blank faced dials before him, trying to curb his mounting impatience. Dimly he could see his own reflection in the polished plastic of the panel; the broad strong features, the high cheekbones, prominent nose and narrow eyes of a man who had lived violently and had seen much. Black hair swept back from a high forehead—sharply peaked, it looked like a closely-fitting cap of glistening jet. It matched the colour of his eyes, framed by surprisingly delicate brows. Lines of character were stamped deep into the flesh, and a thin scar traced a path across one cheek. He was not a handsome man, but he was a man that few forgot. Wilner stared at the swirling greyness shown in the vision-screens. It writhed and coiled, twisting in a peculiar pattern that hurt the eyes and depressed the spirits. He shuddered. “I hate hyperspace. One day we’re going to engage the hyper-drive—and never return.”
“Maybe,” agreed Caleb. “It has happened before, and it could happen again, but not to us.”
“What makes you so certain?” Irritation sharpened the astrogator’s voice. “How can you be sure? How can anyone be sure?”
Caleb stared at him calmly. “Don’t let it get you,” he said gently. “You know as well as I do that our engines are synchronized to five decimal places. We’re safe enough.”
“The big passenger ships synchronize down to eight, and still they get lost.” He stared accusingly at Caleb. “They only take short hops, a few hours at a time, and even then they aren’t safe. Why should we be?” His voice trembled on the verge of hysteria.
Caleb glared at him, fighting down his own nervous irritation. The opening of the control room door eased the tension, and he grinned at the huge bulk of the man who entered.
“Just in time, Jenner. Wilner’s getting jumpy, maybe you can calm him down a little.”
Jenner carefully set down the tray he carried, and handed each of them a beaker of steaming coffee. He was a big man, fat, and with a florid face that radiated good humour. He chuckled as he looked at Wilner, and slapped himself on his great paunch.
“You want to eat more, lad, get some meat on those bones of yours; nothing like it for soaking up the sonic from the engines. Why, I could stand this for as long as the ship would run. Haven’t you ever noticed that all good engineers are fat?” He chuckled again, and slumped in the one remaining seat.
He grinned at Caleb. “What’s the matter with him?”
“Wilner’s worried,” explained Caleb. “He always is every time we take a hop he sits and gnaws his fingers because he doubts our engines.”
“Does he!” The fat engineer glared his disbelief. “With me aboard! With the finest engineer ever to have taken a first degree certificate!” He shook his head in mock horror. “The man must be insane.”
“I’m not crazy,” snapped Wilner angrily. “It’s all very well for you to be so smug, you have something to occupy your mind. All I can do is to sit and wait; sit and listen to the damn sound from your engines, sit and think what would happen to us if something went wrong.”
“Steady,” warned Caleb. “It’s the same for all of ns.” He turned to the fat engineer. “How’s our passenger?”
Jenner shrugged. “Sitting on his bunk working at his figures.” He sighed. “I’ve never seen a man so busy. Ever since we left port he’s been hard at it. Who is he?”
“Some professor who wanted a quick passage.”
“He seems half mad to me,” grunted Jenner. “I’ve had to warn him twice about getting near the engines. Do you think the sonic is getting him?”
“Can’t be helped,” Caleb said tersely. “He knew what he was doing. We’re not running a passenger service, and if he insisted on shipping with a free trader, then he must expect what he gets. I can’t afford the power to break our journey into short hops.” He glanced at the instrument panel.
“This hop is almost over anyway, and we should planet-fall shortly afterwards.” He rose from the padded chair and stretched to his full height. Like most spacemen, he was slim, not particularly muscular, but with tremendous stamina and lightning-fast reflexes. “Any chance of synchronizing the engines closer than five places?” he asked casually.
Jenner snorted. “Impossible! I know that the passenger services get down to eight, but we can’t.” He glared at Wilner. “If he had his way we’d synchronize down to twelve—and have no room left for crew or cargo.”
“At least we’d get rid of the noise,” snapped the astrogator. “It’s about time you engineers did something about it anyway.”
“Listen to the man!” Jenner sighed, shook his head and began to speak in the tone of voice normall. . .
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