Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net GOLD IN THE SKY By ALAN E. NOURSE ILLUSTRATOR LLEWELLYN BOOK-LENGTH NOVEL COMPLETE IN THIS ISSUE [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Science Fiction Stories September 1958. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] CONTENTS 1. TROUBLE TIMES TWO 2. JUPITER EQUILATERAL 3. TOO MANY WARNINGS 4. "BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER..." 5. THE BLACK RAIDER 6. THE LAST RUN OF THE SCAVENGER 7. PRISONERS 8. THE SCAVENGERS OF SPACE 9. THE INVISIBLE MAN 10. THE TRIGGER 11. THE HAUNTED SHIP 12. THE SINISTER BONANZA 13. PINPOINT IN SPACE 14. THE MISSING ASTEROID 15. THE FINAL MOVE YOU WILL MEET-- Greg Hunter. Test pilot--happy only when his life hung in the balance. Tom Hunter. A pioneer--his frontier was hidden in test tubes. Johnny Coombs. A prospector--he returned from the asteroids too soon. Merrill Tawney. An industrialist--he sought plunder even beyond the stars. Major Briarton. A government man--his creed was law and order. [Illustration: They fought with whatever was handy, not bothering to figure the odds.] 1. Trouble Times Two The sun was glowing dull red as it slipped down behind the curving horizon of Mars, but Gregory Hunter was not able to see it. There was no viewscreen in the ship's cabin; it was too tiny for that. Greg twisted around in the cockpit that had been built just big enough to hold him, and shifted his long legs against the brace-webbing, trying to get them comfortable. He knew he was afraid ... but nobody else knew that, not even the captain waiting at the control board on the satellite, and in spite of the fear Greg Hunter would not have traded places at this moment with anyone else in the universe. He had worked too hard and waited too long for this moment. He heard the count-down monitor clicking in his ears, and his hands clenched into fists. How far from Mars would he be ten minutes from now? He didn't know. Farther than any man had ever traveled before in the space of ten minutes, he knew, and faster. How far and how fast would depend on him alone. "All set, Greg?" It was the captain's voice in the earphones. "All set, Captain." "You understand the program?" Greg nodded. "Twenty-four hours out, twenty-four hours back, ninety degrees to the ecliptic, and all the accelleration I can stand both ways."