Voyage of Doom
To young George Carter the girl seemed more beautiful tonight than he had ever seen her. The shine of spacelight was in her eyes—soft pale-blue glow of the million million starry worlds. It filtered down through the overhead glassite dome of the little space-liner, bathing him and her in its soft effulgence.
“ ‘Flinging back a million starglints,’ ” he quoted softly, “ ‘the depths of space remind me of thine eyes.’ That’s literally true, tonight, Dierdre.”
The Starfield Queen was a day out from Earth on its voyage to Ferrok Shahn, capital of the Martian Union. By Earth-time it was August, 2453 A.D. By ship’s routine the time could be called mid-evening—an hour or two after the passengers and crew of the little liner had had their evening meal. Still within the giant cone
