by C. M. Kornbluth
TAKEOFF THE SYNDIC THE EXPLORERS
with Frederik Pohl
THE   SPACE   MERCHANTS SEARCH   THE   SKY
THIS IS AN ORIGINAL COLLECTION-NOT A REPRINT-PUBLISHED BY BALLANTINE BOOKS, INC.
The Explorers
SHORT STORIES
by C. M. KOHNBLUTH
BALLANTINE BOOKS         " NEW YORK
Printing History:
First edition: August, 1954 Second edition: March, 1963
"The Mindworm" and "The Rocket of 1955" appeared in Worlds Beyond, Copyright 1950 and 1951 respectively by Hfllman Periodicals, Inc.; "With These Hands" and "The Altar at Midnight" appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction, Copyright 1951 and 1952 respectively by Galaxy Publishing Corporation; "Thirteen O'clock" appeared in Stirring Science Stories, Copyright 1941 by Albing Publications; "The Goodly Creatures" appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Copyright 1952 by Fantasy House, Inc.; "Friend of Man" appeared in 10 Story Fantasy, Copyright 1951 by Avon Periodicals, Inc.; "That Share of Glory" appeared in Astounding Science Fiction, Copyright 1952 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY C. M. KORNBLUTH
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NO. 54-9671
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BALLANTINE BOOKS, INC. 101 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 3, N. Y.
To my parents,
Samuel and Deborah Kornbluth
Foreword
BY FREDERIK POHL
ESI THE beginning there was S. D. Gottesman. Gottes-man was born in the early stages of World War II, and science-fiction readers liked him very much. He became a fixture in half-a-dozen magazines of the time-some of them no longer with us-and shortly was joined by a number of other by-lines, attached to much the same sort of wry and colorful story. There was Cecil Corwin and Ganriel Barclay and Walter C. Davies and a good many more, and if die stories seemed closely related to each other, it was easy enough to understand. For behind these pen-names-eighteen or nineteen of them-stood a single bland-faced, sharp-tongued teen-ager, whose real name was Cyril Kornbluth.
How many stories did Kornbluth write before he was old enough to vote? Legend says dozens-but legend is wrong, for in truth the number was in the scores. There were magazines which, for the total length of their careers, published more words originally set on paper by Kornbluth than by all their other contributors combined. But all of the stories were masked; it was not until after the war that Kornbluth's own name first appeared in a magazine . . . and, at that, the magazines were detective stories, not science fiction.
But then Kornbluth came back to the fold. Casting the pseudonymous chrysalids off, he settled down to serious work. He began writing wonderful little short stories-like "The Mindworm" and "Friend to Man." That was easy enough, so he raised his sights to novelettes; and the extra length allowed him extra scope to delve into the whole complex structure of the future societies he envisioned. "That Share of Glory" is an example-a detailed and plausible and, once you look at it closely, a frighteningly clear look
into Kornbluth's private crystal ball. By then he had hit his stride; and the results have delighted hundreds of thousands of readers. Novels-brilliant ones-like THE SYNDIC and TAKEOFF; short stories and novelettes besides. It is probably untrue that science-fiction magazines would have suspended publication if there had been no Korn-bluth-but they would not have been nearly as much fun. Kornbluth is a very special favorite of my own-as anyone might come to suspect from the fact that he and I have collaborated on many stories together, shorts and novelettes in the old days, more recently such novels as THE SPACE MERCHANTS, SEARCH THE SKY, and GLADIA-TOR-AT-LAW. But it is no personal prejudice, I vow, that makes me say that Kornbluth the Writer is something worth watching. For brilliant conceptions and literate use of words, for exciting .imagination and characters to make it real, the science-fiction field is fortunate in many talented writers-but none better than he.
-Frederik Pohl
Contents
GOMEZ
THE MINDWORM
THE ROCKET OF 1955
THE ALTAR AT MIDNIGHT
THIRTEEN O'CLOCK
THE GOODLY CREATURES
FRIEND TO MAN
WITH THESE HANDS
THAT SHARE OF GLORY
1
27
41
43
50
75
89
97
115