M33 in Andromeda

M33 in Andromeda

Cover of the first edition
Author A. E. van Vogt
Cover artist Geissmann
Country  United States
Language English
Genre science fiction short stories
Publisher Paperback Library
Publication date
April 1971
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 252 pp
OCLC 2702716

M33 in Andromeda is a collection of six science fiction stories by A. E. van Vogt first published in April 1971.

Contents

a short story told by way of eyewitness accounts in court. Together these accounts tell a grim story of a man who discovers a third eye on his forehead after a car accident removes the skin covering it. Instead of getting it re-covered, he attempts to get it to see. The better he is able to get it to work, the more a parallel universe where everyone has a third eye begins to creep into his own.

a short story where a spaceship called the Space Beagle, which is flying between our galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy, runs into an alien life form . The life form is a sentient creature named Ixtl that survived the end and rebirth of the universe. It can control nearly all aspects of its body, survive in the vacuum of space, asexually reproduce, flow through all but the most super dense materials, and eat nearly anything. The crew are able to trick it to leave the ship.

returning once again to the Space Beagle as it finally arrives at the Andromeda galaxy. As it approaches, the crew are bombarded by message after message to not come any closer and to go home. The sociologist on board proposes that maybe something is just trying to get them to go home and not to keep them from there. They press onward and discover that every planet in the galaxy is covered in rain forests, with the same species on each one. Underneath the rain forests they find ruins of civilizations. They discover that the entire galaxy (or maybe just the areas around the suns) is covered in a light mist of space dust. The mist is a sentient creature that lives off the "life energy" of other creatures. It was originally a self-replicating puff of vapor over a swamp but now embraces the galaxy. To get more life energy it converts whole planets into rain forest worlds. That's why it tried to get the Beagle to leave so it could follow it back to our galaxy and take it over. When the crew figure this out, they set up the means to destroy the mist. The reference to M33 in the title of the story is apparently an error: the galaxy described is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), rather than the Triangulum Galaxy (M33). The latter is in the constellation Triangulum rather than Andromeda (constellation).

The emperor of the world, who seized control 50 years ago with the aid of a super-weapon that he designed, is dying. He has been poisoned and has 48 hours to live. With his remaining time he has to find out who did it, stop a military take-over and keep his heir apparent (his granddaughter) from taking over.

Publication history

1971 - New York: Paperback Library, #65-584, 252 pp. (only edition)

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