1972 Lucky Starr and the Big Sun Mercury Isaac Asimov as Paul French

Description: Good condition. Ex library. GHOSTS "Ghosts!" cried the engineer wildly, fling- ing his arms about. "I've seen them, but will anyone believe me?" Bigman said, "Ghosts! Are you nuts?" At once Mindes screamed, "You don't believe me either. But I'll prove it." With a harsh screech of laughter he had drawn his blaster, and with frenzied speed, before Bigman could move to stop him, he had aimed it at Lucky at pointblank range and squeezed its trigger. Its invisible field of disruption lashed out- ----------- 5 ----------- COPYRIGHT ©, 1956, BY DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. FOREWORD COPYRIGHT 1972 BY ISAAC ASIMOV All rights reserved. For information address Doubleday & Company, Inc., 245 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10017. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 56-5584 This is an authorized reprint of a hardcover edition published by Doubleday & Company. BIGNET TRADEMARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES REGISTERED TRADEMARK MARCA REGISTRADA HECHO EN OHICAGO, U.S.A. SIGNET, SIGNET CLASSICS, MENTOR, PLUME AND MERIDIAN BOOKS are published by The New American Library, Inc., 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10019 FIRST PRINTING, MARCH, 1972 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ----------- 8 ----------- 1 THE GHOSTS OF THE SUN LUCKY STARR AND HIS SMALL FRIEND, John Bigman Jones, followed the young engineer up the ramp toward the air lock that led to the surface of the planet Mer- cury. Lucky thought: At least things are breaking fast. He had been on Mercury only an hour. He had had scarcely time to do more than see his ship, the Shooting Starr, safely stowed in the underground hangar. He had met only the technicians who had handled the landing red tape and seen to his ship. Those technicians, that is, and Scott Mindes, engi- neer in charge of Project Light. It had been almost as though the young man had been lying in wait. Almost at once he had suggested a trip to the surface. To see some of the sights, he had explained. Lucky did not believe that, of course. The engineer's small-chinned face had been haunted with trouble, and his mouth twitched as he spoke. His eyes slid away from Lucky's cool, level glance. Yet Lucky agreed to visit the surface. As yet, all he knew of the troubles on Mercury was that they posed a ticklish problem for the Council of Science. He was willing to go along with Mindes and see where that led him. As for Bigman Jones, he was always glad to follow Lucky anywhere and any time, for any reason and no reason. 11 ----------- 7 ----------- FOREWORD THIS BOOK WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1956, and the de- scription of the surface of Mercury was in accordance with astronomic beliefs of the period. Since 1956, however, astronomical knowledge of the inner Solar system has advanced enormously because of the use of radar beams and rockets. In 1956, it had been thought that Mercury always portion faced one side to the Sun, so that there was that was perpetually in sunlight and a portion that was perpetually dark, with some boundary regions which sometimes had Sun and sometimes not. In 1965, however, astronomers studied radar-beam reflections from the surface of Mercury and found, to their surprise, that this was not so. Whereas Mercury revolved about the Sun in 88 days, it rotated on its axis in 59 days. This meant that every part of Mercury was exposed to the Sun at one time or another and there was no "dark side" after all, I hope that the readers enjoy this story anyway, but I would not wish them to be misguided into accepting as fact some of the material which was "accurate" in 1956 but which is now outdated. ISAAC ASIMOV November, 1970 ----------- 6 ----------- CONTENTS 12 1 The Ghosts of the Sun 11 Mad or Sane? 19 3 Death Waits in a Room 27 4 Over the Banquet Table 35 5 The Direction of Danger 44 6 Preparations 52 7 The Mines of Mercury 61 8 The Enemy in the Mines 70 9 Dark and Light 78 10 The Sun-Side 86 11 Saboteur! 94 12 Prelude to a Duel 102 13 Results of a Duel 110 14 Prelude to a Trial 118 126 15 The Trial 16 Results of the Trial 135 ----------- 8 ----------- project light The barren crust of Mercury lay covered by a network of wire designed to harness the dazzling blaze of the sun and send it sizzling through hyperspace. But someone, or something, on that airless world was sabotaging the top secret mission. Wher no life was said to exist, impossible "ghosts" had been seen, and murderous snakes of alien rock had condemned the innocent to death. It is to this troubled planet that Lucky Starr is sent by the powerful Council of Science. Who or where the enemy is... no one knows. And in order to find out, Starr must face the most deadly--and insane opponent of his young career! Also in This Series: DAVID STARR, SPACE RANGER LUCKY STARR AND THE PIRATES OF THE ASTEROIDS LUCKY STARR AND THE OCEANS OF VENUS NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY PUBLISHES SIGNET, MENTOR, CLASSIC, PLUME & MERIDIAN BOOKS

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