Produced by Greg Weeks, Roger L. Holda, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net The Year When Stardust Fell _A Science Fiction Novel_ By Raymond F. Jones [Transcriber note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Jacket Design by James Heugh Endpaper Design by Alex Schomburg _Cecile Matschat, Editor Carl Carmer, Consulting Editor_ THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY Philadelphia, Toronto Copyright, 1958 By Raymond F. Jones FIRST EDITION _Made in the United States of America_ _To Laura Lee_ Contents _Of Men of Science_ 1. _The Comet_ 2. _Breakdown_ 3. _Power Failure_ 4. _Disaster Spreads_ 5. _Thief_ 6. _The Scientist_ 7. _Dust from the Stars_ 8. _Attack_ 9. _Judgment_ 10. _Victory of the Dust_ 11. _The Animals Are Sick_ 12. _Decontamination_ 13. _Stay Out of Town!_ 14. _Mobilization_ 15. _Battle_ 16. _Black Victory_ 17. _Balance of Nature_ 18. _Witchcraft_ 19. _Conquest of the Comet_ 20. _Reconstruction_ _About the Author_ _Of Men of Science_ The story of man is the story--endlessly repeated--of a struggle: between light and darkness, between knowledge and ignorance, between good and evil, between men who would build and men who would destroy. It is no more complicated than this. That light, knowledge, good, and constructive men have had a small edge in this struggle is attested to by our slow rise over the long millennia of time. In taking stock of our successes, however, it is easy to assume the victory has been won. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a contest that is never ended, nor can it be, as long as men are upon the Earth. While man has free choice, the elements of darkness, ignorance, evil and destruction are available for him to choose, and there are times when these seem the best alternatives. At the end of the 18th century one of the greatest minds of all time was destroyed by one stroke of a guillotine blade. The judge who presided at the trial of the great French chemist Lavoisier is reported to have said, "The Republic has no need of men of science." Choices like this have often been made by the society of man. A turnoff to darkness has been deliberately taken, superstition has been embraced while knowledge has been destroyed. When times are placid we assume such choices could result only from some great insanity; that the men who made them had themselves known more pleasant days. The truth is that there are extremes of circumstance which could force almost any man to abandon that which he has always held to be right and good, and only the very giants could stand up and prove themselves unmoved.