Project Gutenberg 2020-05-18 Public domain in the USA. 112 Broome, John 1913 1999 Osgood, John Merritt, Edgar Ray Leydenfrost, Alexander 1888 1961 Leidenfrost, Sandor The Cosmic Derelict Produced from Planet Stories Summer 1942 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Cosmic Derelict" by John Broome is a science fiction novel likely written in the early 1940s. The story revolves around Captain Christopher Douglas and his crew aboard the spaceship "Lucifer", as they navigate the dangerous Pass of the Twin Witches in order to deliver a cargo of precious platinum on time. As they venture into uncertain territory, the crew must confront both external threats and internal superstitions that challenge their scientific understanding of space travel. In the narrative, Captain Douglas faces significant delays caused by his bo'sun, Tug Skelly, who inadvertently brings chaos to the ship by chasing a stowaway. As tensions rise, they consider an ancient and risky route, the Cross Straits, rumored to be guarded by mythical witches. Tug's reliance on superstition leads him to perform a "ritual of purification," resulting in the ship's hull being painted with the valuable platinum meant for cargo. As they navigate through the perilous Straits, Douglas and his crew confront both the consequences of superstition and the unyielding nature of scientific principles, ultimately arriving at a greater understanding of their experiences and the importance of empirical knowledge. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 74.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Space ships -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 68974 2025-07-24T14:10:46.424548 text/html 45311 2024-10-18T03:30:40 text/html 282365 2025-07-24T14:10:48.398564 application/epub+zip 281189 2025-07-24T14:10:46.804529 application/epub+zip 86675 2025-07-24T14:10:46.585539 application/epub+zip 321795 2025-07-24T14:10:49.769554 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 313596 2025-07-24T14:10:48.183553 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 119347 2022-09-28T04:09:50.020326 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 61978 2025-07-24T14:10:46.295516 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 42212 2024-10-18T03:30:40 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17500 2025-07-24T14:10:49.930519 application/rdf+xml 28590 2025-07-24T14:10:46.670526 image/jpeg 4932 2025-07-24T14:10:46.626536 image/jpeg 469884 2025-07-24T14:10:46.441550 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 en.wikipedia