Art by Virgil Finlay for “Things Pass By,” a novel by Murray Leinster in “Fantastic Story Magazine,” Winter 1955.

            “The Things from deep space were moving onward toward the sun – and Dirk Braddock fully realized that they would destroy civilization!” [Prologue]

The story’s opening paragraphs:

“Far, far away, multiple billions of miles off in empty space, Things moved toward our sun.  They were arranged as a warlike space fleet.  There were scouts and advance guards fanned out ahead.  One of the scouts had already passed beyond Sol.  The main body of the Things was an enormous distance behind, but there were thousands of them.  

“They moved at a rate almost inconceivable to human beings.  Their engines were powered by forces yet undreamed of by men.  They did not decelerate as Sol drew relatively near.  Our sun was a convenience in space navigation – no more.

“The occupants of the Things had no interest in it.  That it had planets was a matter of no concern to them.  That two billion human beings lived upon one of the planets affected them no more than knowledge of an ant city in its path would affect an army.  

“The people of Earth might be obliterated, as an ant city would be destroyed by the passage of an army, but the occupants of the Things could not know, and would not have been interested.  To them, it would not have seemed important.

“However, it happened that on that anthill called Earth there was a man named Dirk Braddock.  Because of him, Earth is not now an uninhabited, crumpled ball, with its continents mere salt-mud marshes, and its seas swept by five-mile-high tidal waves as the Things go by.  

“The Things have not the faintest idea what happened.  They probably do not care.  But we do.  This is the story of Dirk Braddock . . .”

[Note: This story was first published in 1945 and contains the earliest description of what we now call a 3D printer: “It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photocells.  But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes.  This thing will start at one end of a ship or a house and build it complete to the other end, following drawings only.” – Excerpt from the story]

Taken in: United States / Virginia / Washington Forest (show map)

Taken on: August 26, 2024

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Fantastic Story Magazine

Fantastic Story

1955

Winter 1955

1950s

interplanetary

art

artwork

outer space

volume 8, number 1

science fiction

sci-fi

story

short story

Things Pass By

Murray Leinster

Leinster

Virgil Finlay

Finlay

The Things

Things

Dirk Braddock

black and white

black and white image

black and white illustration

black & white

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Earth might be obliterated

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warlike « less

Sets appears in: • Fantasy & Pin-up Art • Pulp Magazines

Groups appears in: • Science Fiction Unleashed • PULP more » • Pulp Fiction • Science Fiction Art • Vintage Illustration • Anything Sci-Fi • Ciencia Ficción (science fiction) « less

Camera: Apple iPhone 14 Pro, f/1.8, 1/60 sec, 6.9mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Apple iPhone 14 Pro
Lens:	iPhone 14 Pro back triple camera 6.86mm f/1.78
Aperture:	f/1.8
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	6.9mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Express Windows 10 (Windows)
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