Read "The Madman From Earth" by Keith Laumer online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"On our second pass," the gaunt-faced officer said, "they let fly with something. I don't know how it got past our screens. It socked home in the stern and put the main pipe off the air. I threw full power to the emergency shields, and broadcast our identification on a scatter that should have hit every receiver within a parsec. Nothing. Then the transmitter blew. I was a fool to send the boat down but I couldn't believe, somehow."
"In a way it's lucky you did, Captain. That was my only lead."