"Beyond the Stars" is a science fiction adventure story by Ray Cummings set in 1998, narrated by Leonard Gray, the young commander of an intercontinental air liner called the 40 N. The story opens with Leonard receiving a mysterious summons from Dr. Weatherby, an elderly scientist living along the Hudson River, along with a request that Leonard bring his friend Jim Dunkirk, a detective. When the two men arrive, Dr. Weatherby explains that his blind granddaughter Dolores has been receiving thought-waves from beings located not merely in outer space but in a realm entirely beyond the known universe, and that he has devised a vehicle capable of transporting them all there. Dr. Weatherby presents a lengthy scientific framework to explain the journey. He argues that all matter consists of vortices of nothingness that simulate solidity, and that the entire visible universe, with all its stars and galaxies, is itself nothing more than a subatomic particle when viewed from a sufficiently vast perspective. By accelerating to enormous velocities using an Elton Beta ray that the vehicle carries with it, the travelers will grow in size relative to their surroundings, causing the entire universe to shrink to a pinpoint and allowing them to emerge into a greater realm beyond it. Navigation is unnecessary because natural laws ensure the path of least resistance leads outward toward greater emptiness. Leonard and Jim agree to join the expedition. The group, consisting of Leonard, Jim, Dr. Weatherby, Alice, and the blind Dolores, departs at dawn in the white electrite vessel. The journey proceeds through the solar system, then outward past the nearest stars, accelerating until the stars themselves stream through the vessel like electrons through a wire. Eventually the entire universe shrinks to a fading spark behind them, and they emerge into a new realm of atoms and molecules. As they approach a recognizable scale of matter, Dolores receives strong thought-waves from beings who have been watching the vessel approach through a microscope, having noticed an anomalous radioactive glow in a fragment of stone in their laboratory. The travelers land in a scientifically advanced but socially troubled civilization called Kalima, a small nation ruled by an aging king. They are housed under loose captivity and assigned a language instructor named Ren, who memorizes their English with extraordinary speed. Through Ren, and later through a young woman named Sonya, they learn that Kalima faces two simultaneous crises. Internally, the nation's women are in rebellion against oppressive laws that treat them as property, force polygamous marriages, and condemn elderly women to death by abandonment on a place called Death Island. About a thousand girls have formed an independent colony on a nearby island. Externally, a mysterious and terrifying enemy called the Nameless Horror has begun prowling near the city and has apparently abducted the crown prince Altho and his sister the princess. Dr. Weatherby, overwhelmed by the joy of learning that Dolores can be given sight through a surgical procedure involving a condemned prisoner named Loro, collapses and dies shortly after the operation succeeds and Dolores sees for the first time. Sonya reveals that she loves Prince Altho, and Dolores begins receiving his thoughts, learning that he is held captive in a cave and that the princess has been killed. The Nameless Horror is revealed to be an invading race from a distant world consisting of two symbiotic species: brutemen, physically powerful but nearly mindless giants, and the Intellect, beings of enormous brain development whose bodies have shriveled to vestigial appendages hanging beneath their large heads. The leader Talon explains that his people crashed on this world and intend to conquer Kalima for its resources and women. Jim and Ren are captured and taken to Talon's mountain stronghold, where they are imprisoned alongside Altho. They eventually escape with Altho's help after killing a bruteman guard. Sonya leads Alice and Dolores on a daring rescue flight by bird-drawn platform, but the rescue is only partially successful. Altho is recaptured by a levitation weapon, and Ren is killed defending Dolores from a head that seizes her on the clifftop ledge. Leonard, meanwhile, has seized control of Kalima's government by using the Frazier beam, a device from Earth that projects and amplifies hypnotic thought-waves, to overawe the castle guards and the crowd during the chaos surrounding the king's death. Styling himself king, he rapidly organizes a military force, grants the rebellious women their demands, and prepares a combined land, sea, and air assault on Talon's forces. In the subsequent battle, Talon's long-range black beam projector initially devastates Leonard's flying platforms and several boats, but Leonard conducts a solo attack on Talon's coastal barrage line, destroying it with the Frazier beam and fire weapons. Jim's land forces then sweep forward, routing Talon's army entirely. As the battle concludes in victory, Leonard spots Talon's submarine boat escaping with Altho aboard, dives upon it, and the story reaches its climax in direct physical combat between Leonard and Talon at close range over the water.
By Ray Cummings · First published 1963 · Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure · 18 chapters