Project Gutenberg 2009-06-19 Public domain in the USA. 120 Garson, Bill 1917 2000 Garson, William J. Garson, Billie Geovanes, Basilios Garson, Vaseleos Vestal, Herman B. 1916 2007 Vestal, H. B. (Herman B.) Vestal, Herman Beeson Beeson Acid Bath Produced from Planet Stories July 1952. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "Acid Bath" by Vaseleos Garson is a science fiction story likely written in the early 1950s. The narrative follows Jon Karyl, a Lone Watcher stationed on an asteroid, who finds himself confronting mysterious invaders known as the Steel-Blues. The story delves into themes of survival and ingenuity in the face of extraterrestrial threat, featuring Karyl's desperate attempts to warn Earth as he becomes a subject of experimentation by the aliens. As the plot unfolds, Karyl encounters the Steel-Blues, who reveal their intent to invade Earth for its resources. They subject him to a mysterious liquid they call "hemlock," which is intended to dissolve metal but unexpectedly allows Karyl to survive due to his organic composition. The tension builds as Karyl frantically sends a distress signal to the Space Patrol, racing against time to inform them of the impending invasion. In a twist, the aliens misjudge Karyl's resilience to their "torture," and ultimately, their downfall comes at the hands of the SP ship, which retaliates using water against the metallic creatures. The story concludes with Karyl's victory over his captors and a hint of the unknown origins of the Steel-Blues. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 85.5 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 55733 2025-08-12T06:38:28.028521 text/html 51990 2021-01-05T05:44:25 text/html 109376 2025-08-12T06:38:31.769501 application/epub+zip 108183 2025-08-12T06:38:29.604542 application/epub+zip 82270 2025-08-12T06:38:28.550558 application/epub+zip 215219 2025-08-12T06:38:33.488537 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 207835 2025-08-12T06:38:31.129535 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 115622 2022-09-13T13:50:44.009427 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 48827 2025-08-12T06:38:27.730534 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 48698 2021-01-05T05:44:25 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19012 2025-08-12T06:38:33.613511 application/rdf+xml 9897 2025-08-12T06:38:29.034532 image/jpeg 2835 2025-08-12T06:38:28.791522 image/jpeg 47173 2021-01-05T05:44:25 application/octet-stream application/zip 18776 2021-01-05T05:44:25 application/octet-stream application/zip 107636 2025-08-12T06:38:28.036538 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