THE DOOR THROUGH SPACE
Marion Zimmer Bradley
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ACE BOOKS
A Division of Charter Communications Inc.
1120 Avenue of the Americas
New York, N. Y. 10036
THE DOOR THROUGH SPACE
Copyright ©, 1961, by Ace Books, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Transcriber's note:Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the copyrighton this publication was renewed.
... across half a Galaxy, the Terran Empire maintains its sovereigntywith the consent of the governed. It is a peaceful reign, held bycompact and not by conquest. Again and again, when rebellion threatensthe Terran Peace, the natives of the rebellious world have turnedagainst their own people and sided with the men of Terra; not from fear,but from a sense of dedication.
There has never been open war. The battle for these worlds is fought inthe minds of a few men who stand between worlds; bound to one world byinterest, loyalties and allegiance; bound to the other by love.
Such a world is Wolf. Such a man was Race Cargill of the Terran SecretService.
RENDEZVOUS ON A LOST WORLD
Copyright ©, 1961, by Ace Books, Inc.
Printed in U.S.A.
Author's Note:—
I've always wanted to write. But not until I discovered the old pulpscience-fantasy magazines, at the age of sixteen, did this generaldesire become a specific urge to write science-fantasy adventures.
I took a lot of detours on the way. I discovered s-f in its golden age:the age of Kuttner, C. L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, Ed Hamilton and JackVance. But while I was still collecting rejection slips for my earlyefforts, the fashion changed. Adventures on faraway worlds and strangedimensions went out of fashion, and the new look inscience-fiction—emphasis on the science—came in.
So my first stories were straight science-fiction, and I'm not trying toput down that kind of story. It has its place. By and large, the kind ofscience-fiction which makes tomorrow's headlines as near as thismorning's coffee, has enlarged popular awareness of the modern,miraculous world of science we live in. It has helped generations ofyoung people feel at ease with a rapidly changing world.
But fashions change, old loves return, and now that Sputniks clutter upthe sky with new and unfamiliar moons, the readers of science-fictionare willing to wait for tomorrow to read tomorrow's headlines. Onceagain, I think, there is a place, a wish, a need and hunger for thewonder and color of the world way out. The world beyond the stars. Theworld we won't live to see. That is why I wrote THE DOOR THROUGHSPACE.
—Marion Zimmer Bradley
CHAPTER ONE
Beyond the spaceport gates, the men of the Kharsa were hunting down athief. I heard the shrill cries, the pad-padding of feet in strides justa l