Synopsis

The crew of an interstellar expedition find an object on a lifeless planet that absorbs completely all forms of energy directed at it.

History

First publication: Astounding Science Fiction, June 1949

Written by Poul Anderson and John Gergen.

Review

The first remarkable thing to notice is that the earth crew is truly international. Beyond that, the story is a scientific mystery story. This kind of story is really all about the scientific idea and the characters are just there to reason it through. Not really interesting to anyone who doesn’t want a healthy dose of science in their science fiction. Otherwise recommended. A nice little SF story.