The Black Star Passes

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  THREE AGAINST THE STARS

  A sky pirate armed with superior weapons of his own invention....

  First contact with an alien race dangerous enough to threaten the safety of two planets....

  The arrival of an unseen dark sun whose attendant marauders aimed at the very end of civilization in this Solar System....

  These were the three challenges that tested the skill and minds of the brilliant team of scientist-astronauts Arcot, Wade, and Morey. Their initial adventures are a classic of science-fiction which first brought the name of their author, John W. Campbell, into prominence as a master of the inventive imagination.

  JOHN W. CAMPBELL first started writing in 1930 when his first short story, _When the Atoms Failed_, was accepted by a science-fiction magazine. At that time he was twenty years old and still a student at college. As the title of the story indicates, he was even at that time occupied with the significance of atomic energy and nuclear physics.

  For the next seven years, Campbell, bolstered by a scientific background that ran from childhood experiments, to study at Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote and sold science-fiction, achieving for himself an enviable reputation in the field.

  In 1937 he became the editor of _Astounding Stories_ magazine and applied himself at once to the task of bettering the magazine and the field of s-f writing in general. His influence on science-fiction since then cannot be underestimated. Today he still remains as the editor of that magazine's evolved and redesigned successor, _Analog_.

  THE BLACK STAR PASSES

  JOHN W. CAMPBELL

  ACE BOOKS, INC.1120 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, N.Y. 10036

  THE BLACK STAR PASSES

  Copyright, 1953, by John W. Campbell, Jr.

  Copyright, 1930, by Experimenter Publications, Inc.

  An Ace Book, by arrangement with the author.

  _Cover art by Jerome Podwil._

  Printed in U.S.A.

  Contents

  Introduction 7

  BOOK ONE

  Piracy Preferred 11

  BOOK TWO

  Solarite 71

  BOOK THREE

  The Black Star Passes 145

  INTRODUCTION

  These stories were written nearly a quarter of a century ago, for theold _Amazing Stories_ magazine. The essence of any magazine isnot its name, but its philosophy, its purpose. That old _AmazingStories_ is long since gone; the magazine of the same name today isas different as the times today are different from the world of 1930.

  Science-fiction was new, in 1930; atomic energy was a dream webelieved in, and space-travel was something we tried to understandbetter. Today, science-fiction has become a broad field, atomicenergy--despite the feelings of many present adults!--is no dream.(Nor is it a nightmare; it is simply a fact, and calling it anightmare is another form of effort to push it out of reality.)

  In 1930, the only audience for science-fiction was among those whowere still young enough in spirit to be willing to hope and speculateon a new and wider future--and in 1930 that meant almost nothing butteen-agers. It meant the brightest group of teen-agers, youngsters whowere willing to _play_ with ideas and understandings of physicsand chemistry and astronomy that most of their contemporariesconsidered "too hard work."

  I grew up with that group; the stories I wrote over the years, and,later, the stories I bought for _Astounding Science Fiction_changed and grew more mature too. _Astounding Science Fiction_today has many of the audience that read those early stories; they'renot high school and college students any more, of course, butprofessional engineers, technologists and researchers now. Naturally,for them we need a totally different kind of story. In growing withthem, I and my work had to lose much of the enthusiastic scope thatwent with the earlier science fiction.

  When a young man goes to college, he is apt to say, "I want to be ascientist," or "I want to be an engineer," but his concepts are broadand generalized. Most major technical schools, well knowing this, havethe first year course for _all_ students the same. Only in thesecond and subsequent years does specialization start.

  By the sophomore year, a student may say, "I want to be a_chemical_ engineer."

  At graduation, he may say, "I'm going into chemical engineering_construction_."

  Ten years later he may explain that he's a chemical engineerspecializing in the construction of corrosion-resistant structures,such as electroplating baths and pickling tanks for stainless steel.

  Year by year, his knowledge has become more specialized, and muchdeeper. He's better and better able to do the important work the worldneeds done, but in learning to do it, he's necessarily lost some ofthe broad and enthusiastic scope he once had.

  These are early stories of the early days of science-fiction. Radarhadn't been invented; we missed that idea. But while these storiesdon't have the finesse of later work--they have a bounding enthusiasmthat belongs with a young field, designed for and built by young men.Most of the writers of those early stories were, like myself, collegestudents. (_Piracy Preferred_ was written while I was a sophomoreat M.I.T.)

  For old-timers in science-fiction--these are typical of thedays when the field was starting. They've got a fine flavorof our own younger enthusiasm.

  For new readers of science-fiction--these have the stuff that laid thegroundwork of today's work, they're the stories that were meant foryoung imaginations, for people who wanted to think about the worldthey had to build in the years to come.

  Along about sixteen to nineteen, a young man has to decide what is,for him, the Job That Needs Doing--and get ready to get in and pitch.If he selects well, selects with understanding and foresight, he'llpick a job that _does_ need doing, one that will return rewardsin satisfaction as well as money. No other man can pick that for him;he must choose the Job that _he_ feels fitting.

  Crystal balls can be bought fairly reasonably--but they don't workwell. History books can be bought even more cheaply, and they'remoderately reliable. (Though necessarily filtered through the culturalattitudes of the man who wrote them.) But they don't work well aspredicting machines, because the world is changing too rapidly.

  The world today, for instance, needs engineers desperately. There alot of jobs that the Nation would like to get done that can't even bestarted; not enough engineers available.

  Fifty years ago the engineering student was a sort of Second ClassCitizen of the college campus. Today the Liberal Arts are fighting fora come-back, the pendulum having swung considerably too far in theother direction.

  So science-fiction has a very real function to the teen-agers; itpresents varying ideas of what the world in which he will live hisadult life will be interested in.

  This is 1953. My son will graduate in 1955. The period of his peakearning power should be when he's about forty to sixty--about 1970,say, to 1990. With the progress being made in understanding of healthand physical vigor, it's apt to run beyond 2000 A.D., however.

  Anyone want to bet that people will be living in the same generalcircumstances then? That the same general social and cultural andmaterial standards will apply?

  I have a hunch that the history books are a poor way of planning alife today--and that science-fiction comes a lot closer.

  There's another thing about science-fiction yarns that is quiteconspicuous; it's so difficult to pick out the villains. It might havemade quite a change in history if the ballads and tales of the olddays had been a little less sure of who the villains were. Read thestandard boy's literature of forty years ago; tales
of Crusaders whowere always right, and Saracens who were always wrong. (The sameSaracens who taught the Christians to respect the philosophy of theGreeks, and introduced them to the basic ideas of straight,self-disciplined thinking!)

  Life's much simpler in a thatched cottage than in a dome on theairless Moon, easier to understand when the Villains are all pureblack-hearted villains, and the Heroes are all pure White SouledHeroes. Just look how simple history is compared with science-fiction!It's simple--but is it good?

  These early science-fiction tales explored the Universe; they wereprobings, speculations, as to where we _could_ go. What we_could_ do.

  They had a sweep and reach and exuberance that belonged.

  They _were_ fun, too....

  John W. Campbell, Jr.Mountainside, N.J.April, 1953