Great Science Fiction Stories

Great Science Fiction Stories Editor, CORDELIA TITCOMB SMITH Published by DELL PUBLISHING, 750 Third Avenue, New York N.Y. 10017 Copyright, 1964, by Dell Publishing Co., Inc. Laurel-Leaf Library, Dell Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved First Printing—February, 1964 Second Printing—June, 1967 Third Printing—June, 1969 Printed in U.S.A. VITAL FACTOR, by Nelson Bond. Copyright, 1951, by Nelson Bond. Reprinted by permission of the author. POTTAGE, by Zenna Henderson. From PILGRIMAGE by Zenna Henderson. Copyright © 1955, by Mercury Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission off Doubleday 8s Co., Inc. and Willis Kingsley Wing. THE ROADS MUST ROLL, by Robert A. Heinlein. Reprinted from ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION (now ANALOG Science Fact—Science Fiction); copyright © 1940 by Robert A. Heinlein. NIGHTFALL, by Isaac Asimov. Copyright 1941 Street 8s Smith Publications, Inc. in the U.S.A. and Great Britain. Reprinted from ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION by permission of the author. HISTORY LESSON, by Arthur C. Clarke. Copyright 1949 by Better Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agents, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc. IN HIDING, by Wilmer Shires. Copyright, 1948, by Street 8s Smith Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author. THE MARTIAN CROWN JEWELS, by Pout Anderson. © 1958 by Davis Publications, Inc. This story originally appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agents, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc. THE SANDS OF TIME, by P. Schuyler Miller. Reprinted from ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION (now ANALOG Science Fact—Science Fiction), copyright 1937 by Street 8s Smith Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION VITAL FACTOR, by Nelson Bond POTTAGE, by Zenna Henderson THE ROADS MUST ROLL, by Robert Heinlein THE STOLEN BACILLUS, by H. G. Wells THE STAR, by H. G. Wells NIGHTFALL, by Isaac Asimov HISTORY LESSON, by Arthur C. Clarke IN HIDING, by Wilmer Shiras THE MARTIAN CROWN JEWELS, by Poul Anderson THE SANDS OF TIME, by P. Schuyler Miller INTO SPACE, by Jules Verne INTRODUCTION In 1929, Hugo Gernsback, the publisher of Amazing Stories, first used the term "science fiction" to identify the particular type of story that was published in his magazine. But the form is older than the label. It was probably first used by primitive storytellers who, not knowing a thing about science, went beyond their simple understanding of nature and with imagination created tales that could be believed by their hearers. The possibility of belief is one of the important elements in science fiction. When Homer retold the adventures of Ulysses in the Odyssey he frequently resorted to a technique of what we now call science fiction. This technique is simple, the inclusion of strange and unknown elements in a story that starts or takes off from a familiar point. This one foot in the world of reality makes everything else that happens believable. Thus we may compare Ulysses, leaving his home and wandering through the western Mediterranean (then as unknown as the depth of the sea) to Captain Nemo and his crew in Jules Verne's nineteenth-century science fiction masterpiece Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Much of our literary heritage that was concerned with making the incredible somewhat believable was not always science fiction. Much of the Arabian Nights is pure fantasy, such as Sindbad's flight on the great bird. Some of these tales are closer to our modern definition of science fiction, such as those in which flying carpets are used. The closest thing to science fiction in the Arabian Nights is probably the story of Aladdin's lamp. With the growth in man's knowledge of himself and the world around him came the concept of science. Not until this concept was firmly established could there be any real science fi