Cosmic Derelict

by Neil R. Jones

Professor Jameson and his immortal band of robot-bodied Zoromes find a derelict space-ship—and in it the deadliest, mind-destroying danger of their careers!


Excerpt
With a metal tentacle, Professor Jameson pointed to the world in the rear of their passage. At a distance astern of less than twenty thousand miles, the planet still loomed large and commanding, occupying a large section of the star-sprinkled sky within its halo of atmosphere.

"It seems strange, 6W-438, that we found no intelligent life on that world."

"There are still three inner planets to explore. We may yet find an intelligent species in this system."

"Life, even of low intelligence, is the exception rather than the rule," 744U-21 reminded them. "We have found life on but seven worlds in the last twenty-eight planetary systems we have visited, and all but one of these worlds were divided up among two systems. We did gather interesting scientific data, however, in a good many cases."

"This system shows signs of being peculiarly well adapted for life forms," the professor pointed out. "We may strike something of interest among the inner worlds."

"First, we must explore this lone satellite of the fourth world. It is strange that there is but one moon among all five worlds. Possibly, on closer approach to the inner world, we shall see smaller ones we missed through distant observation."

The satellite in question grew on their vision as the mother world behind gradually dwindled. 20R-654 piloted the space ship in a broad, sweeping curve around the little moon. As detectors and divinators of all kinds were trained upon the little moon, Professor Jameson, by the side of 744U-21, who was estimating the satellite's diameter and density, saw that their earlier approximation of seventeen hundred miles diameter was only slightly in excess of the exact.

"There is a strong concentration of metal at one spot we passed," 65G-849 announced.

"Return that way and we shall seek it out," 744U-21 relayed to 20R-654 at the controls. "Cruise closer to the surface."

Close to the surface, in their parlance, meant at an initial safe distance of several miles above any possible spires of rock or mountainous terrain rising up suddenly from beyond the moon's close horizon. They dropped gradually nearer the rough, airless expanse of desolate surface and slowed their speed as 65G-849 reported stronger emanations. At one point, he re¬ported the metallic concentration to be highly localized. Then the ship passed beyond it, for the emanations diminished in strength quite rapidly. 65G-849 made a confusing report, however, as they returned to the point of highest recording. The radiations were weaker.

"We have strayed off the line to one side or the other."

"No, we were above the same topographical features both times."

"Check your instruments again and give specific directions to 20R-654."

This was done, and a startling discovery was made.

"We are not over this metal concentration! We are under it!"

Surprise and interest was immediately manifested by all thirty-eight machine men.

"A sub-satellite!"

The mysterious object was quickly found. It was small, they noticed, as the ship maneuvered to sunward.

"Another space ship—smaller than ours!"

46 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Neil Ronald Jones (29 May 1909 - 15 February 1988) was an American author who worked for the state of New York. Not prolific, and little remembered today, Jones was ground–breaking in science fiction. His first story, "The Death's Head Meteor", was published in Air Wonder Stories in 1930, recording the first use of "astronaut". He also pioneered cyborg and robotic characters, and is credited with inspiring the modern idea of Cryonics. Most of his stories fit into a "future history" like that of Robert A. Heinlein or Cordwainer Smith, well before either of them used this convention in their fiction.

Rating not even a cover mention, the first installment of Jones' most popular creation, "The Jameson Satellite", appeared in the July 1931 issue of Amazing Stories. The hero was Professor Jameson, the last Earthman, who became immortal through the science of the Zoromes. Jameson was obsessed with the idea of perfectly preserving his body after death and succeeded by having it launched into space in a small capsule. Jameson's body survived for 40,000,000 years, where it was found orbiting a dead planet Earth by a passing Zorome exploration ship. The Zoromes, or machine men as they sometimes called themselves, were cyborgs. They came from a race of biological beings who had achieved immortality by transferring their brains to machine bodies. They occasionally assisted members of other races with this transition (i.e. the Tri-Peds and the Mumes), allowing others to become Zoromes and join them on their expeditions, which sometimes lasted hundreds of years. So, much like the Borg of the Star Trek series, a Zorome crew could be made up of assimilated members of many different biological species. The Zoromes discovered that Jameson's body had been so well preserved that they were able to repair his brain, incorporate it into a Zorome machine body and restart it. The professor joined their crew and, over the course of the series, participated in many adventures, even visiting Zor, the Zorome homeworld, where he met biological Zoromes. The professor eventually rose to command his own crew of machine men on a new Zorome exploration ship. "The Jameson Satellite" proved so popular with readers that later installments in Amazing Stories got not only cover mentions but the cover artwork.

Being cryopreserved and revived is an idea that would recur in SF, such as in Gene Roddenberry's Genesis II. One young science fiction fan who read The Jameson Satellite and drew inspiration from the idea of cryonics was Robert Ettinger, who became known as the father of cryonics. The Zoromes are also credited by Isaac Asimov as one of the inspirations behind the robots of his Robot series.

Masamune Shirow paid homage to Jones in his cyborg-populated Ghost in the Shell saga by including a no-frills brain-in-a-box design, even naming them Jameson-type cyborgs.

Jameson (or 21MM392, as he was known to his fellow metal beings) was the subject of twenty-one stories between 1931 and 1951, when Jones stopped writing, with nine stories still unpublished. In the late 1960s, Ace Books editor Donald A. Wollheim compiled five collections, comprising sixteen of these, including two previously unpublished. In all there were thirty Jameson stories written (twenty four eventually saw publication, six remain unpublished), and twenty-two unrelated pieces.