The
Federation Worlds Stories
By
A. Bertram Chandler
Chandler
himself doesn't classify the following as Rim Worlds stories; they perhaps more
properly belong to the "IF" stories he worked on after completing the first
batch of Rim Worlds stories. But it does share characters, tone and milieu with
the Rim stories, so I'd include them in the series, even if Chandler doesn't.
 |
"The
Genie"
Fantastic, 1961/09, 35¢, digest, cover by Alex Schomburg
Capt. Huygens of Barrow Boy has a ghost trap from the collection
of millionaire Clavering (possibly the same Clavering of "Forbidden Planet")
replicated and heads for Koraki, a planet infested with demons. The traps are
set, and the Barrow Boy's hold is quickly filled with trapped, enraged
demons. En route to her next destination, Barrow Boy's drive engineer,
Fiorelli, is influenced by the demons and releases them. They sent the ship into
the past, and Barrow Boy sets down outside King Solomon's palace on ancient
Earth. The king has a means of disposing of the demons, and a convenient historian
(from far in the future of even Barrow Boy's time) makes the necessary
adjustments to the Mannschenn Drive to return the ship to her proper era.
.
