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To Thad Allen, meteor miner, comes the dangerous bonanza of a derelict rocket-flier manned by death invisible.

The meteor or asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, was "mined" by such adventurers as Thad Allen for the platinum, iridium and osmium that all meteoric irons contain in small quantities. The meteor swarms are supposed by some astronomers to be fragments of a disrupted planet, which, according to Bode's Law, should occupy this space.

But Thad makes an unexpected find...

This classic science fiction short story by Jack Williamson first appeared in Astounding Stories in February 1932.

Jack Williamson (1908-2006) was an American writer who was often referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction" following the death in 1988 of Robert Heinlein. As a young man, Williamson discovered magazine Amazing Stories, after answering an ad for one free issue. He strove to write his own fiction, selling his first story at age 20: "The Metal Man" appeared in the Dec. 1928 issue of Amazing Stories. His work during this early period was heavily influenced by A. Merritt.

Early on, he became impressed by the works of Miles J. Breuer and struck up a correspondence with him. A doctor who wrote science fiction in his spare time, Breuer had a strong talent and turned Williamson away from dreamlike fantasies towards more rigorous plotting and stronger narrative. Under Breuer's tutelage, Williamson would send outlines and drafts for review. Their first work together was the novel Birth of a New Republic in which Moon colonies were undergoing something like the American Revolution—a theme later taken up by many other scifi writers, particularly in Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

By the 1930s, Williamson was an established genre author, and the teenaged Isaac Asimov was thrilled to receive a postcard from Williamson, whom he had idolized, congratulating him on his first published story and saying "welcome to the ranks." Williamson remained a regular contributor to the pulp magazines, though not reaching financial success until many years later. He published many collaborations with the science fiction author Frederik Pohl.

In the 1950s, Williamson earned his college degree in English and joined the faculty at Eastern New Mexico University. He went on to earn his Ph.D., writing his dissertation on H.G. Wells.

Williamson continued to write as a nonagenarian and won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards during the last decade of his life, by far the oldest writer to win those awards. He's credited with coining the terms "terraforming" and "genetic engineering."