EINSTEIN'S PLANETOID
An Engrossing Tale of An Incredible World
by PAUL DENNIS LAVOND
(Author of “Something from Beyond,” “A Prince of Pluto,” etc.)
Paul Dennis Lavond is a pseudonym known to be used by three different authors: C. M. Kornbluth, Robert A. W. Lowndes, and Frederick Pohl.
They were the heirs of space-flight: They planned to be the first humans to land on Alpha Centauri, but the original Hartnett expedition had been lost and they had to find it first. They followed the signals and found that they led to what looked like a one-way excursion to the screwiest planetoid in the galaxy!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Science Fiction Quarterly Spring 1942.]
CHAPTER I
HEIRS OF SPACE FLIGHT
Nick Hartnett stepped off the upper lip of the thousand-foot shaft and floated gently downwards. When he had fallen about half the distance, he reached out for a stanchion, grasped it easily and pulled himself gracefully into the lounge-room of the Columbia.