"For defense we'll have to depend on armor as heavy as we can make and still remain within the bounds of practical construction. I don't believe we'll be able to build up enough mass to insulate against their negative catalysis ray. We'll have to depend on mobility and offense." -- Richard Arcot
"...we'll have a bigger store of knowledge before this war is over--if we have anything at all. It's possible that man may lose knowledge, life, his planets and sun--but there's still plenty of hope. We're not finished yet." -- Richard Arcot
"The invaders may be behind one of those big engines, quite unaware of us. If they're there, and they see us, they'll be ready to fight. Now remember, those weapons you have will tear loose anything they hit, so take it easy. But look out for the crew, and get them if they try to get you!" -- Richard Arcot
"...I wonder if there might not be some of the crew alive in there? If there are, it seems to me that they'll let us know shortly that they're around...they would doubtless have some sort of guns." -- Wade
"It'll be a beam of power that will cause all molecules in its path to move at right angles to it...That means that no matter how big the thing is, we can tear it to pieces..." -- Richard Arcot
"I think I can understand the secret of all that power, and it's not so different from the Solarite. It, too, draws its power from the sun, though in a different way, and it stores it within itself... In that huge coil and cylinder we found there we saw the main power storage tank. That was full of gaseous light-energy..." -- Richard Arcot
"Dad, these Kaxorians have planes capable of far more than a thousand miles an hour in the air. You must start at once on a fleet of molecular motion planes... I'll try to develop some new weapons here. If either of us makes any progress along new lines--we'll report to the other." -- Richard Arcot
21 min
About Black Star Passes
From the publisher's feed
Follow along with Arcot, Morey, and Wade as they discover a revolutionary form of propulsion, visit our neighboring planets, and go up against aliens from a rogue solar system that passes close to our…
own. These three stories (Piracy Preferred, Solarite, and The Black Star Passes) were originally published (c. 1930) as a serial in Amazing Stories magazine.