EDMOND HAMILTON – The Weapon from Past. Starwolf #1. Ace G-639. Paperback unique; 1st printing, 1967. Cowl artwork by Jack Gaughan. Collected in Starwolf (Ace, paperback, 1982); and in Starwolves and the Interstellar Patrol (Baen, paperback, 2008).
Area opera within the previous custom, however with an added measure of characterization and concepts.
Margan Chane, ex-Starwolf, hunted by his former allies in pirating and raiding, joins a crew of mercenaries from Earth in a hunt for a weapon supposedly hidden within the depths of Corvus Nebula. There isn’t any weapon, solely the stays of a wrecked alien spaceship, however there are indication {that a} rescue fleet is on the best way.
The mercenaries, attention-grabbing in themselves, are the belief of Earth’s most useful assets in a universe of riches: Males. Males able to doing the job requested of them. Chane has to kind out his feelings in a private battle brought on by his sudden change of atmosphere, now having to be hunted and maybe having to struggle his previous comrades on the facet of fellow Earthmen, with one he can like and even respect.
People of this future have their scientific analysis oriented towards weaponry, whereas the liens don’t appear to have needed to endure and study to show away from violence. Which is healthier?
Logically constructed, besides that the mercenaries nonetheless anticipate to fin the “weapon” after touchdown when the enemy cruisers go away the planet “defenseless.” In any other case, the story has each motion and considerate passages in the best proportion. Most entertaining,
Score: ****
— April 1969.
