Explore "The Miniature Menace" by Frank Belknap Long on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
_Condemned without trial for his refusal / to open fire on an alien space-craft, Ralph / Langford had to be free to investigate the / strange menace from beyond the stars! For / if the alien were an enemy, then it would be / the most terrible enemy men had ever encountered._
The sky was harsh with the flare of rocket jets when Captain Ralph Langford emerged from his deep space cruiser on the Mars City landing field. There was a girl standing alone at the far end of the field, and for a moment Langford thought it might be Joan, irrational as the thought was. Of course, Joan couldn't be here; he was to see her at the hospital. He started across the field, blinking in the glare, his eyes shining with a warm gratefulness to be home again; as he approached the solitary figure, he could see it was not Joan, though there was a resemblance. He was so engrossed that he didn't notice the tall, eagle-eyed young Patrol officer who came striding toward him, until he heard the man's voice.