Testing: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
Testing: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
Testing is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Merwin, Sam, Jr. (1910–1996).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
Testing 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.
Book and edition facts
- Title: Testing
- Author credits: Merwin, Sam, Jr. (1910–1996)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- Life on other planets -- Fiction
- Science fiction
- Short stories
- Space colonies -- Fiction
- Weapons -- Fiction
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View the complete Gutenberg catalogue record. Project Gutenberg identifies this edition as public domain in the United States; that designation does not establish its copyright status in every country.
Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
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