This star shall be free

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

76849

Title

This star shall be free

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

In primordial England, primitive cave-dwellers encounter a mysterious alien vessel from Antares. The visitors conduct an ecological experiment, granting the humans advanced weapons and the ability to summon animals, fundamentally altering human evolution and sparking the dawn of civilization.

Summary up to 500 words

In Murray Leinster's science fiction classic *This Star Shall Be Free*, the narrative begins in prehistoric Europe with Tork, a primitive cave-man, encountering a massive silver ship from the star Antares. The alien crew, aquatic beings from a highly advanced civilization, descend to conduct an experiment in artificial ecological imbalance. They offer humans advanced technology, including stone-tipped spears, bows, arrows, and a device that projects desires, allowing Tork to summon game animals to his tribe. Initially, the tribe thrives, feasting on unlimited food and mastering new weapons. However, the experiment reveals the dangers of unchecked human expansion. The tribe grows rapidly, leading to resource scarcity and conflict over the coveted technology. Envious outsiders attempt to steal weapons, leading to violence. Tork realizes that the aliens' presence is tied to the humans' thoughts; as long as the tribe thinks of the visitors, the aliens are trapped. To free the aliens and prevent the destruction of the planet's ecosystem, Tork and his wife, Berry, create pictures of the aliens on cave walls. This mental focus traps the visitors, who eventually agree to leave if the pictures are destroyed. Tork erases the images, freeing the Antareans, but the humans lose the ability to summon animals. The tribe must now learn to hunt and make their own tools, a difficult transition that drives the development of art, technology, and society. The story concludes millennia later, revealing that the descendants of Tork and Berry have evolved into modern humans, while the Antareans eventually return to Earth to colonize it, only to find themselves outmatched by the very species they once guided.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Short Stories
• Science Fiction