The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Star Lord, by Boyd Ellanby

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Title: The Star Lord

Author: Boyd Ellanby

Release Date: May 2, 2010 [EBook #32208]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's note:

This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
June 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

THE STAR LORD

_By Boyd Ellanby_

[Illustration]

To some passengers a maiden voyage was a pleasure cruise; to others
it meant a hope for new life. Only the Captain knew of its danger!

The _Star Lord_ waited, poised for her maiden voyage. The gigantic
silvery spindle, still cradled in its scaffoldings, towered upwards
against the artificial sky of Satellite Y.

[Illustration]

The passengers were beginning to come on board before Captain Josiah
Evans had finished checking the reports of his responsible officers. The
ship was ready for space, now, and there was nothing more he could do
until takeoff. With long, deliberate steps he walked to his cabin,
closed the door, and in the privacy he had come to regard as the
greatest luxury life had to offer him, he sank into his chair and
reached for the post-bag which had been delivered by the morning's
rocket ferry from earth.

There were no personal letters for him. He rarely received any and never
really expected any, for his career had always been more important to
him than personal ties. Shoving aside the official documents, he picked
up the small brown parcel, slit the pliofilm covering with his pocket
knife, and inspected the red leather cover with its simple title: _Ley's
Rockets and Space Ships._ At the bottom of the cover was a date: May 1,
2421, Volume 456. In the nearly five hundred years since the publication
of Volume one, which listed all the earth's rocket ships on half of one
page, the annual edition of this book, regularly edited and brought up
to date, had become the spaceman's bible.

Captain Evans wa