Explore "The Black Star Passes" by John W. Campbell on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
It was shortly after noon when the newly christened Solarite left on its first trip into space. The sun was a great ball of fire low in the west when they returned, dropping plummet-like from the depths of space, the rush of the air about the hull, a long scream that mounted from a half-heard sound in the outer limits of the Earth's atmosphere, to a roar of tortured air as the ship dropped swiftly to the field and shot into the hangar. Instantly the crew darted to the side of the great cylinder as the door of the ship opened.
Fuller appeared in the opening, and at the first glimpse of his face, the hangar crew knew something was wrong. "Hey, Jackson," Fuller called, "get the field doctor -- Arcot had a little accident out there in space! " In moments the man designated returned with the doctor, leading him swiftly down the long metal corridor of the Solarite to Arcot's room aboard.