A space adventure short story from the pages of Analog
A billion-year-old alien ship. A great treasure. A great danger.
With a last surge of the main drive, Barnet matched our bearing and speed with the alien derelict.
Twisted lines of tubing and conduit curled around the hull. After a billion years, micrometeor collisions had sandblasted the ship to a dull finish.
But behind that battered surface might lurk exotic materials beyond the manufacturing capability of any human world. Magnetic monopoles, dyons, condensed matter. Even a tiny amount delivered to Earth or a major world could set up a crew for life.
A billion-year-old alien ship. A great treasure. A great danger.
With a last surge of the main drive, Barnet matched our bearing and speed with the alien derelict.
Twisted lines of tubing and conduit curled around the hull. After a billion years, micrometeor collisions had sandblasted the ship to a dull finish.
But behind that battered surface might lurk exotic materials beyond the manufacturing capability of any human world. Magnetic monopoles, dyons, condensed matter. Even a tiny amount delivered to Earth or a major world could set up a crew for life.
Risks? Yes. I’d seen men die horrible deaths from alien nano. But the rewards could be worth it.
And I had nothing to worry about.
I knew Barnet had my back.
