02340cam a22003853u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000330011324500120014626400510015830000470020933600260025633700260028233800360030849000670034450000310041150800280044252010630047053400720153365300200160565300180162565300370164365300300168065300230171070000280173383000670176185600830182885600430191177357UtSlPG20260610134807.0mcr n260607r20251956utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aMerwin, Sam, Jr.,d1910-199610aTesting 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aProduced from Fantastic Universe, March 1956 (Vol. 5, No. 2.).  aRelease date is 2025-11-27  aSean/IB and Tom Trussel  aTesting by Jr. Sam Merwin is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It centers on the discovery of a small human colony on a supposedly uninhabited planet chosen for a planet-destroying weapons test, raising urgent ethical and political dilemmas.

A sidelined military pilot, Echelon Leader Hannibal Pryor, surveys Rigel IV ahead of a “planet-buster” demonstration and is stunned to find a remote human settlement, Leith on Nevis, led by a wise patriarch known as the Dominie. The colony holds an ancient, valid charter that should halt the test, but Pryor’s delay—and the fleet’s ruthless move to destroy his ship—prevent timely communication. Working overnight with the Dominie, he manages to alert Interstellar Control, yet the superweapon is already inbound. Accepting their likely doom, the Dominie hopes their sacrifice will expose the illegal test and avert a wider interstellar war, while Pryor, chastened and admiring, stands with the villagers as the end approaches. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York: King-Size Publications, Inc., 1956  aScience fiction  aShort stories  aLife on other planets -- Fiction  aSpace colonies -- Fiction  aWeapons -- Fiction1 aHunter, Mel,d1927-2004 0aProduced from Fantastic Universe, March 1956 (Vol. 5, No. 2.).4 uhttps://archive.org/details/Fantastic_Universe_v05n02_1956-03/page/n3/mode/2up40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77357