Outcast Of The Stars
By Bob Silverberg
Yorkan Varr was exiled to the prison
planet for a crime he knew he had
never committed. Oddly, the man who
had sent him there was a prisoner too!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
February 1957
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"We're coming close to Earth now, Yorkan Varr," said the patrolman. "We'll be dumping you any minute now."
The man addressed as Yorkan Varr scowled bitterly. "You're making a mistake, I tell you. I didn't kill that man. I didn't even know him!"
The patrolman shrugged. "Sorry, but that's the way things go. The court said you're guilty—and here you are. Don't jump on me. I'm just doing my job."
Yorkan Varr made no reply. There was no sense arguing with the patrolman, after all. There was no sense arguing with anyone.
He got up and stared out the viewplate at the mottled, spinning globe of Earth below, growing closer every moment, and his thin lips curled in an angry grimace. Earth. The garbage world, the dumping-ground for the Galaxy's undesirables. Who'd ever imagine that he—Yorkan Varr—would someday be approaching Earth for a life of exile?