YOUNG READERS Science Fiction Stories By RICHARD M. ELAM ILLUSTRATED BY VICTOR PREZIO _Publishers_ GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC. _New York_ © 1957 by LANTERN PRESS, INC. By arrangement with Lantern Press, Inc. PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN CANADA BY GEORGE J. MC LEOD, LIMITED, TORONTO, ONTARIO MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE YOUNG TRAVELERS OF TOMORROW _CONTENTS_ _Beth and the Twilight Star_ 13 _Gib Takes a Space Test_ 28 _The Space Mail Run_ 39 _All Aboard for Space_ 55 _Wheel in the Sky_ 69 _Danger on the Ice Canal_ 83 _Cargo for Callisto_ 95 _The Big Show on Titan_ 107 _Adventure on the Sun’s Doorstep_ 119 _The Flying Mountain_ 132 _Castaways in Space_ 144 _The Big Space Ball Game_ 158 _Paper Treasure for Mars_ 171 _ILLUSTRATIONS_ She saw a strange land unfolding before her eyes 22 Everyone was told to buckle himself to the rail by a short length of cord 62 The tornado bomb was on its way, speeding hundreds of miles a second Earthward 81 He saw her flinging her arms and legs about like a drowning swimmer 128 Benasco was seated on the floor like a child with a new scrapbook 187 YOUNG READERS Science Fiction Stories _BETH AND THE TWILIGHT STAR_ Beth Harrison and her father had driven into the desert to look for dead branches of “jumping cactus,” which were used in making lamps for Mr. Harrison’s tourist shop in Tucson. He and Beth had just gotten out of the station wagon and were gazing up a slope of bristly cacti. “This looks like a good place, Daddy,” Beth said. Mr. Harrison nodded. “We’ll have to hurry, though. It’s getting late.”