Death Between the Stars

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Overview

They asked me about it of course before I boarded the starship. All through the Western sector of the Galaxy few rules are stricter than the one dividing human from nonhuman and the little Captain of the Vesta-he was Terran too and proud in the black leather of the Empire's merchant-man forces-hemmed and hawed about it as much as was consistent with a spaceman's dignity."You see Miss Vargas " he explained not once but as often as I would listen to him "this is not strictly speaking a passenger ship at all. Our charter is only to carry cargo. But under the terms of our franchise we are required to transport an occasional passenger from the more isolated planets where there is no regular passenger service. Our rules simply don't permit us to discriminate and the Theradin reserved a place on this ship for our last voyage."He paused and re-emphasized "We have only the one passenger cabin you see. We're a cargo ship and we are not allowed to make any discrimination between our passengers." He looked angry about it. Unfortunately I'd run up against that attitude before. Some Terrans won't travel on the same ship with nonhumans even when they're isolated in separate ends of the ship.I understood his predicament better than he thought. The Theradin seldom travel in space. No one could have foreseen that Haalvordhen the Theradin from Samarra who had lived on the forsaken planet of Deneb for eighteen of its cycles would have chosen this particular flight to go back to its own world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798880903672
Publisher:	Start Classics-Nbn
Publication date:	04/09/2024
Pages:	22
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930-1999) was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels. She is best known for the Darkover series and for The Mists of Avalon, the first book in her Avalon series. Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "[A] monumental reimagining of the Arthurian legends," The Mists of Avalon was made into a popular television miniseries in 2001.

Date of Birth:

June 30, 1930

Date of Death:

September 25, 1999

Place of Birth:

Albany, New York

Place of Death:

Berkeley, California

Education:

B.A., Hardin-Simmons College, 1964; additional study at University of California, Berkeley, 1965-1967

Read an Excerpt

I felt--as yet--none of the revulsion which the mere presence of the Theradin was supposed to inspire. It was not much different from being in the presence of a large humanoid animal. There was nothing inherently fearful about the alien. Yet he was a telepath--and of a nonhuman breed my species had feared for a thousand years.

Could he read my mind?

"Yes," said the Theradin from across the cabin. "You must forgive me. I try to put up barrier, but it is hard. You broadcast your thought so strong it is impossible to shut it out." The alien paused. "Try not to be embar-rass. It bother me too."