Black Star Passes

"That you should come here at this particular time is almost beyond belief--a practically impossible coincidence--but perhaps there is more than coincidence behind it?" -- Tonlos

"We may be able to find friends here more quickly if we aid one side or the other in the very lively battle going on there. Before we go any further, what's our decision?" - Richard Arcot

"We're getting near a planet. This is the third meteor we've met since we were more than a million miles from Earth." -- Richard Arcot

"I love to come out here and look at those cold, pinpoint lights; they seem to draw me--the lure of other worlds. I've always had a sense of unfulfilled longing--the desire to go out there--and it's always been so hopeless. Now--I'll be out there by next spring!" -- Richard Arcot

"I'm Wade--help if you can. Am in an orbit and can't get out. Fuel reserve gage stuck, and used all my rockets. No more power. I am running out of compressed air and the generator is going--will take animation suspending gas--will you be able to reach me before entering night?" --The Pirate

"I never began to let out the power of this thing! What a ship! When these are made commercially, we'll have to use about one horsepower generators in them, or people will kill themselves trying to see how fast they can go." -- Richard Arcot

"Dad seems to think the machine has possibilities! I believe it will antiquate all types of airplanes, prop or jet. It's a direct utilization of the energy that the sun is kindly supplying... We may as well tap that vast ocean of power." -- Richard Arcot

"The other day several men came in to charter a plane to San Francisco. It seems they wanted to hire the ship so they could be robbed!" -- Robert Morey

"Piracy! Pirates in the air! In 2126 we have pirates attacking our air lines." -- Field Manager of the San Francisco terminus of The Transcontinental Airways Company

Reader Scott D. Farquhar shares John W. Campbell's own Introduction to The Black Star Passes.