Project Gutenberg 2007-11-26 Public domain in the USA. 265 Leinster, Murray 1896 1975 Jenkins, Will Jenkins, William Fitzgerald Fitzgerald, William Jenkins, Will F. A Matter of Importance Produced from Astounding Science Fiction September 1959. Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "A Matter of Importance" by Murray Leinster is a science fiction novella originally published in the late 1950s. The story revolves around the routine operations of space police who respond to emergencies in an interstellar setting, particularly focusing on the incident involving the passenger ship "Cerberus". As the plot unfolds, the narrative explores themes of duty, identity, and the complexities of handling unexpected situations in a futuristic universe where interactions with alien cultures and the remnants of past conflicts shape the actions of its characters. The plot follows Sergeant Madden, who is preparing to retire but is suddenly thrust into a critical mission when the "Cerberus" sends a distress signal. His son’s fiancée is aboard the ship, heightening the stakes personally for him. As Madden investigates the strange circumstances surrounding the ship's disappearance, it leads him to uncover the presence of the Huks, an alien race that had previously clashed with humanity but seems to have re-emerged. The sergeant navigates a blend of routine policing and extraordinary circumstances, ultimately leading to a negotiation with the Huks that seeks to establish a new understanding between the two species while ensuring the safety of the "Cerberus" and its passengers. The story culminates in an exploration of cooperation and the often blurred lines between perception and reality in interspecies relations. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 76.9 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 111386 2025-06-10T04:27:15.833645 text/html 108470 2007-11-26T14:47:30 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 180930 2007-11-26T14:47:30 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 259465 2025-06-10T04:27:21.976617 application/epub+zip 257881 2025-06-10T04:27:18.919623 application/epub+zip 99377 2025-06-10T04:27:17.654610 application/epub+zip 373790 2025-06-10T04:27:24.136575 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 364234 2025-06-10T04:27:21.080612 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 176218 2022-09-11T06:23:47.651838 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 101758 2025-06-10T04:27:15.456653 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 101693 2007-11-26T14:47:30 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 37954 2007-11-26T14:47:30 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19092 2025-06-10T04:27:24.271584 application/rdf+xml 13842 2025-06-10T04:27:18.195612 image/jpeg 3909 2025-06-10T04:27:17.925639 image/jpeg 253080 2025-06-10T04:27:15.854655 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia