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Elegy
Elegy
It was an impossible situation: an asteroid in space where no asteroid should have been—with a city that could only have existed back on Earth!
Book Excerpt
They walked toward a house of colored rocks.
"Miss Daphne Trilling's," said Mr. Greypoole, gesturing. "They threw it up in a day, though it's solid enough."
When they had passed an elderly woman on a bicycle, Captain Webber stopped walking.
"Mr. Greypoole, we've got to have a talk."
Mr. Greypoole shrugged and pointed and they went into an office building which was crowded with motionless men, women and children.
"Since I'm so mixed up myself," the captain said, "maybe I'd better ask--just who do you think we are?"
"I'd thought you to be the men from the Glades of course."
"I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about. We're from the planet Earth. They were going to have another war, the 'Last War' they said, and we escaped in that rocket and started off for Mars. But something went wrong--fellow named Appleton pulled a gun, others just didn't like the Martians--we needn't go into it; they wouldn't have us so Mars didn't work out.
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Readers reviews
3.8
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I'm not a fan of morbid themes, but this story is so different from the norm that it deserves a good rating. I also commend the author on showing that a good story can be written without foul language.
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I don't recall the Twilight Zone episode, but Beaumont did a lot of them. A battered interplanetary crew stumbles across an asteroid with all the comforts of home. It would be a nice place to settle down for good.
08/08/2012
Fans of Rod Sterling’s Twilight Zone will probably recognize this story pretty quickly – it’s pretty obvious that this story was the basis for one of the episodes. It’s a pretty good read although my memory of the TZ episode kept interfering with my reading.
06/16/2010
This short story was made into a Twilight Zone ( original series) episode of the same title. A drifting spaceship crew thinks they've found a way to be rescued when they encounter a strange asteroid. Upon exploring it, they find an Earth-style city with some unusual inhabitants. Are troubles over for the crew, or are they just beginning?
06/16/2010
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