Aliens and Nothing But Aliens 3 - Sixteen Lost Sci-Fi Short Stories from the 1940s, 50s and 60s
- Strange Eden by Philip K. Dick
- From Outer Space by Robert Zacks
- Planet of the Angry Giants by Robert Silverberg
- The Guest Rites by Robert Silverberg
- The Star Mouse by Fredric Brown
- And Then—The Silence by Ray Bradbury
- Duel on Syrtis by Poul Anderson
- Earthmen Bearing Gifts by Fredric Brown
- Welcome Martians by Evan Hunter
- Guest Expert by Allen K. Lang
- The Eater of Souls by Henry Kuttner
- Message From Mars by Clifford D. Simak
- The Pause by Isaac Asimov
- The Call From Beyond by Clifford D. Simak
- The World That Couldn't Be by Clifford D. Simak
- The Sky Was Full of Ships by Theodore Sturgeon
Space Travelers and Nothing But Space Travelers - 17 Lost Sci-Fi Short Stories from the 1930s, 40s 1950s and 1960s
- Six Frightened Men by Robert Silverberg
- Jonah of the Jove-Run by Ray Bradbury
- Rescue Mission by Robert Silverberg
- Space-Lane of No-Return by George Whittington
- Invader From Infinity by George Whittington
- Rocket Summer by Ray Bradbury
- Willie's Planet by Mike Ellis
- The Planetoid of Peril by Paul Ernst
- Day of Wrath by Bjarne Kirchhoff
- Glow Worm by Harlan Ellison
- And the Gods Laughed by Fredric Brown
- Strange Eden by Philip K. Dick
- The Misplaced Battleship by Harry Harrison
- From Outer Space by Robert Zacks
- Monsters That Once Were Men by Robert Silverberg
- Distress Signal by Ross Rocklynne
- The Hated by Frederik Pohl
From Outer Space by Robert Zacks - How did Doomsday come? Well, it's the story of a banquet...
The grizzled old space veteran leaned back in his chair and stared up through the transparent dome. In the black sky myriad white specks gleamed without twinkling, their light unbent by atmosphere or dust. The steady pulse of the airmakers kept rhythm with the heartbeats of the young men seated in a semi-circle, listening with glistening eyes to these ancient tales of an Earth they'd never seen—the home of their species.
They stared hungrily at the old man's face. There was a silvery spot on the chin where Venusian fungus had nearly gotten into his bloodstream and had had to be burned away. Over one eye an eyebrow was gone, replaced by scar tissue grown on a planet at the other end of the galaxy where the light of enormous fireflies wasn't cold, as on ancient earth, but searing with heat.
'Imagine,' they marveled, 'such weak flame in fireflies.'
'Not weak,' corrected the old man. 'Just different. Those insects on Earth didn't have to fight off intense cold. They had a much thicker atmosphere and were close to the sun. And they didn't feed on alcohol.'
The young men's eyes glittered. They were an odd group. Small—most of them, none over five feet five inches—and pale, unlike the old man who was bulky around the shoulders and had skin virtually leathered by various radiations and temperatures and winds.
Each day this group waited hungrily for the old man to come and talk to them. The stories he told were the breath of life to them. And of all the tales of adventures in the far ends of the universe, the one that was most repeatedly called for was the story of what had happened to Earth.
'Tell us about Earth,' said one of them, now, in a low voice.
