Planet of the Black Dust-Jack Vance short story

Planet of the Black Dust-Jack Vance short story

Planet of Black Dust was the second story Vance ever had published.  It is a 12/18 page short story first issued in the magazine Startling Stories in July, 1946.  One of the characters, Captain Creed, is both the captain and part owner of a freighter spaceship called Perseus.  The Perseus carries an insured cargo of expensive aromatic oils.  Blaine Holderlin, the second mate, quarter master and main character is alarmed when the Captain discharges his communicator and two mechanics for no apparent reason and does not replace them.  This leaves only four men to operate the ship.  Then Creed issues strange orders during the flight to approach a star more closely.  When the ship begins to be pulled in by star's gravity, a malfunction with the ship occurs and it is unable to escape the gravitational pull.  The captain orders that the crew to abandon ship in the two fliers they have, and Holderlin is ordered to pilot the second flier by himself after the cook commits suicide.  Holderlin suspects some sort of foul play by the captain.  This is a simple, straight forward story that challenges the ingenuity and survival skills of our very capable main character.  I’ve read it several times. My rating was a 3 “Liked it.”

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Dark Side of the Moon (1986)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Gadget Stories (2005) part of VIE

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Magic Highways: The Early Jack Vance, Volume 3 (2015)

Included in the Vance collection titled Sail 25 and Other Stories (2017 Spatterlight)

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