Galactic Derelict

Time Traders/Ross Murdock #2

by Andre Alice Norton

Galactic Derelict is the second novel in the science fiction Time Traders series by American writer Andre Norton. It was first published in 1959, and as of 2012, had been reprinted in eight editions. It is part of Norton's Forerunner universe. Galactic Derelict continues the series' premise, an encounter between Western heroes and a mysterious alien race that has used time travel to alter Earth. This novel shifts between present day and the time of Folsom Man, some 10,000 years ago. While seeking water for his cattle Travis Fox enters a little known canyon in the Arizona desert and gets captured by three men, one of whom he recognizes as Dr. Gordon Ashe, an archaeologist. After discovering that Fox studied archaeology and had done some digging in the very canyon they now occupy, the men have him cleared through security and offer to make him part of their team. Then Ashe tells him that he will be joining an expedition 10,000 years into the past to look for a spaceship. Disguised as Folsom hunters, Fox, Ashe, and Ross Murdock travel into the past to scout out the area around the wreckage of an alien starship, a sphere perhaps 120 feet in diameter. They find the wreck near a lake and then, across a ridge, they find a smaller spaceship intact, its crew of Baldies dead. After receiving the scouts' report via transtemporal telegraph, Major Kelgarries, the project's director, and several technicians come into the past and examine the small ship, determining that they can shift it directly into the present. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, Adventure, Fantasy

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Alternative publishing name for author Andre Norton

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4* of five

What a fun way to recapture the thrills of youth this proved to be. I'm as cynical an old party as you'll ever meet. When I'm reading Grand Master Norton's SF from the 1950s, I'm back in a more hopeful time and I'm given a reason to think that the future will be better than the past.

Haw. Haw haw.

Especially grim "fun" since this series of books takes place in the 21st century. There are comparatively few ways I feel the world is better now than in 1959. For one thing, look at these dreary ugly eat-your-overboiled-spinach cars we've got! Look at the food we eat, how much of our budget is eaten by the simple act of eating a healthy diet and sleeping indoors.

Well. No matter. Visiting the past's view of the present is a hoot, so long as one belts down the reality inside a sturdy cage. I'm excited with Ross Murdock and newly met Travis Fox accompanying Dr. Ashe to alien worlds, escaping the stinky, hazardous alien monsters, using their McGyver-esque sense of engineering solutions to problems their entire species has never faced! And doing it without so much as batting a racist eyelash. No one makes any sort of comparison to Apache Travis's heritage that's in any way belittling.

What a refreshing thing that is in 2018's poisonous racist climate. How much I wish this was the default attitude in my 21st century; alternatively, I'd like to refugee over to Grand Master Norton's 21st century, please. With special reference to a ride in the globe that takes the men to the alien worlds, since it has those uberspiffing bunks with the magical heal-all jelly!!

99¢ on Kindle. Blow yourself to a nostalgic trip back to the future.

[Dean Sault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andre Norton's Galactic Derelict will forever be special to me. As a youngster, I struggled with reading and reading comprehension. It was so bad I hated school and always felt like a failure. Hence, I refused to even try because intentional failure was better than trying to succeed, only to fail every time. I hated books. I hated reading.

One day, I cut through a church parking lot where they were setting up a rummage sale for the weekend. I walked past a table full of paperback books with no interest. I happened to glance down and saw a book cover that stopped me in my tracks. A spaceship sat in front of an active volcano with cave men and a wholly mammoth in the foreground. It was priced twenty-five cents and I had a quarter in my pocket, earmarked for five candy bars to get me through the weekend. Impulse took over, and I bought that book. When I got home, I regretted wasting my only money on a "stupid book." I was curious about that cover scene so I opened the book to the first page and began reading. Through numerous stops and starts, I managed to read the entire novel by Sunday evening as I read about one fantastic alien world after another. That was my first ever completed novel, but something wonderful happened. Confidence. For the first time in my life, I knew I could read and comprehend.

I went to the local library and checked out an armful of Andre Norton books. Soon, I was inhaling novels at a rate of two or three a week. School grades went from failing to straight As. When my name was listed in the town newspaper at the top of the Honor Roll, I felt like it wasn't me, yet it was. I owe most of my accomplishments in life to her early influence.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if human beings discovered....

(ominous music)

ANCIENT ALIEN TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!????????

Yep. It's that hoariest of concepts, so beloved of both filmed SF and novels, an idea so heavily worn and threadbare that you can practically see through it when it's held up to the light. Old alien tech is the comfy house-sweater of SF - comfy, a bit lacking in style, and mostly not something you'd use to impress folks.

But of course, Andre Norton wrote these stories in the late 1950s, when this concept was nowhere near as hackneyed as it is now, and of course a hackneyed concept by no means stops something from being enjoyable (See; seasons 5 to infinity of The Walking Dead, every Star Wars novel ever written, etc.).

Galactic Derelict picks up chronologically almost where Time Traders left off, but this time from the perspective of Travis Fox, indigenous American, archaeologist and sometime cowboy. Travis is roaming the range, and while headed to a water source known only to elders of his people stumbles across the Time Trader team of Norton's first novel, who are investigating a remote area where they believe an alien ship crash landed in the distant past.

Ross Murdock, juvenile delinquent turned hardened and resourceful time traveller, is part of the team, as is senior agent Gordon Ashe. Travis is soon spotted and apprehended, and given a choice of imprisonment or signing on with the Time Trader team.

Of course, Travis picks the smart (if not safe) option and joins our team of chrono-hoppers in their search for ancient alien tech (woooooooooooooooo! Ancieeeeeeent Aliiiiien Teeeeeech!!!!!), and thus starts an adventure that covers tens of thousands of years, both chronological and those measured in Light.

What ensues is pure SF space adventure, of the type that delighted me when I was a kid. Our protagonists endure a long and dangerous space journey that takes them across multiple strange worlds in a story that reminded me of The Odyssey, Gulliver's Travels and Frederick Pohl's Gateway in equal measure. Like Pohl's classic, our heroes find themselves in a ship whose destination and travel time is unknown, wondering if they will starve to death in the cold void between stars before they reach their destination.

Of course, they visit multiple strange and dangerous worlds, and see the ruins of what once must have been a galaxy spanning empire - the source of the ship that they are travelling in. They dodge death, make wondrous discoveries, and wonder how - and if - they will ever get home.

It's SF of the most straightforward, boys-own-adventure stuff, with no menacing subtexts and few references to contemporary social issues, other than Norton’s laudable placing of non-WASP characters in the center of the narrative. Travis Fox was the first Native American I encountered as a real, modern character in a novel when I read the sequel to this book at twelve years of age, and it was great counterpoint to the offensive cowboys-and-Indians stuff I grew up with.

Other than this however, Galactic Derelict is very much plot driven SF of its era, and if that's what you're looking for it's a pacey, compelling and fun read.


3.5 Ancient Alien Technologies (ominous ‘woooooo’ sound) out of five.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3 stars

Not as good as book one, but still had some charm to it. I think I personally prefer Murdock as a main character rather than Travis Fox, but he was interesting all the same, though, I can't speak on how well his heritage was portrayed as I don't feel I am learned enough in that particular area of world history to comment. Also (and this is more of a joke), Andre Norton has never heard of falling action, has she?

Overall, I did feel the absence of any actual time travel in this Time Traders novel, so I hope that the next books have more of that.

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andre is in Form

Before it was politically correct Andre Norton was populating her books with minority characters and making them people with the same strengths, fears and needs as the majority. Perhaps this is why I have been drawn to her books for over 40 years. Believable characters. This is one of her shorter books and is a nice lead into the next book Defiant Agents. It is a quick read but very satisfying.

[Tom Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

They get this ALIEN spaceship from back in time and transport it to NOW. Well it accidentally takes off with the guys in it and goes home! But home is a zillion years later, so they land and these ports of call, each giving a tantalizing look at a bygone race of aliens in their crumbling cities, etc. NICE. ONE OF MY FAVORITES.

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow in my long affection for the Time Trader novels I missed this book's existence. I was fascinated by the story and the escalating explorations and adventures our heroes faced in their unexpected journey to alien planets. I couldn't read it fast enough.

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was bundled with the eBook of 'The Time Traders' by the same author. The second book in a four book series I believe.

The first few chapters introduce a new character and are the weakest part of the book. Once you get passed these it's a pretty decent exploration adventure. It's way better than 'The Time Traders', which was an inferior take on the Burroughs 'capture-escape-capture-escape' format. This one is more about space travel then time travel.

If you bought the eBook combo and abandoned it after 'Time Traders' it's worth picking up and reading. At less than 200 pages it doesn't take up a lot of reading time.

The fourth Norton book I have read and so far I'm not that impressed. But, I want to give her 'Witch World' books a try before I abandon her completely.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another early one that I read from Andre Norton. I remember how intrigued I was when they discovered an intact spaceship in the distant past, and how they shipped it through time but then it took off with people aboard. Wonderful story.

[Jim Standridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story. Been decades since I read the first book in the series and have no recall of it. This story is interesting, but has some issues, Story line is doesn't seem to be totally thought out. The agents are 'kidnapped' by a spaceship and taken for a ride to other worlds. Not space beings, mind you. Just the ship. Even for a fiction story, a few reality checks are needed.Nothing to do with the publish date. No giveaways, but could have been better in the simple details. I have to also question the insistence of constantly pointing out the "'Apache' in the room". Could not figure that one out. Not the best Norton I have read by far, but never a bad story from this author.

[Tom Britz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andre Norton wrote some very good science adventure novels. She was an important writer of the early 50's on. Galactic derelict is the second in her Time Trader series. In this one, the time traders find a whole alien space ship back in Earth's past. The crew was killed by some disease or something. As the time traders are bringing the ship back to the present, something triggers the ship to take off, carrying four time traders with it. The adventures they fall into during their unexpected trip make up this novel. And Andre Norton is up to the task.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as good as I remember it when I first read it as a kid.

[Jay Lyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this dilapidated and water damaged copy I’ve had sitting on my shelf for decades. I quickly realized there was a prequel, but it stood well enough on its own. I will go back to the start.

[Rob Hopwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton

Published in 1959, Galactic Derelict is the sequel to The Time Traders, which came out the year before. The main character of the first book takes a back seat to a newcomer, Travis, who is Apache by descent, and proud of his traditions.

Set against the background of a Cold War which has continued into the last quarter of the twentieth century, this story contains many ideas which were progressive for the age in which it was written. Some of these include racial equality and a more enlightened view of extraterrestrial species, certain of which are described with an inventiveness which render them truly alien. The only strange aspect is that Norton seems to equate odors which are perceived by humans as “foul” with malevolence, whereas aliens with inoffensive odors are benign.

The characters have distinct personalities, and are described convincingly, and although the story is not by any means devoid of introspection on the part of the protagonist, it is primarily a fast-paced adventure filled with action. This action takes the form of outwitting and battling enemies and vicious beasts, and struggling with alien technologies and trying to devise solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems.

Naturally, some aspects of the alien spaceship will seem outdated to modern readers. Since Galactic Derelict was written prior to the digital age, the pilot relies on buttons, levers and wires, mechanics and apparently electrics, to control engines capable of propelling the craft into hyperspace. The ship also carries a kind of liquid fuel in its tanks, and there is no mention of artificial gravity during flight. In addition, these highly advanced aliens, who are capable of time travel and maintaining a galactic empire, recorded information on wire tapes, and the course the ship takes through space is reliant upon the control board reading one of these recordings as it is fed through a machine. These details of course would not have jarred with readers of sixty years ago, as they may with audiences today. In a couple of places the atmosphere and alien beings reminded me of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, although the story is entirely different.

All in all, Galactic Derelict is an absorbing and satisfying tale of multidimensional adventure, which is made all the more fascinating by the era in which the book was written.



Below are some representative quotations from the text of the book:

Elsewhere around the world deserts had been flooded, through man's efforts, with sea water freed of its burden of salt. Ordered farms beat ancient sand dunes into dim memories. Mankind was fast becoming no longer subject to the whim of weather or climate.

Photographing the past, beginning with a few hours past, by the infra-red waves, had succeeded in experimentation as far back as twenty years previously—during the late fifties.

"... so we discovered the Reds had time travel and were prospecting back into the past. What they dredged up there couldn't be explained by any logic based on the history we knew and the prehistory we had pieced out. What we didn't know then was that they had found the remains—badly smashed—of a spaceship. It was encased in the ice of Siberia, along with preserved mammoth bodies and a few other pertinent clues to suggest the proper era for them to explore.

We keep away from the natives, we don't get involved in any happenings back there. Our only reason for going through is to make as sure as we can that the technical boys are not going to be disturbed while they work on that wreck.

He had heard enough during the past few days to judge that any contact with the original owners of the galactic ships could be highly dangerous.

Of course he had in a measure felt the same lack of self consciousness with Dr. Morgan. To Prentiss Morgan a man's race and the color of his skin were nothing—a shared enthusiasm was all that really mattered.

What had the Apache been then —and the white man? Roving hunters with skill in spear and knife and the running down of game. Yet it was at that time that these aliens had produced this ship, voyaged space, not only between the planets of a single system, but from star to starl

"The controls must now be set with some sort of a guide-perhaps a tape. Once we are grounded and I can get to work, that might just be reversed. But there are a hundred 'ifs' between us and earth, and we can't count on anything."

Ashe had already mastered the operation of a small projector which "read" the wire-kept records, and so opened up not a new world but worlds. The singsong speech which went with the pictures meant nothing to the Terrans. But the pictures— and such pictures! Three-dimensional, colored, they allowed one a window on the incomprehensible life of a complex civilization stretching from star to star.

"To themselves they may be men," Ashe returned, "and we might represent monsters. All relative, son. At any rate, I believe that they do not regard us with kindness."

These natives must depend upon that shelter for their lives. Break it open and they're just as dead as if we mowed them down with blasters. They may not be anything or anybody we'd care to live with, but this is their world and we're intruders.

Like the blue flyers, the subject bore baffling resemblances to living things they knew, and yet was in its totality alien.

Whether he could reset another tape, or reverse the present one, he did not yet know."I don't know about rewinding this one." He tapped the coin-sized disk they had seen ejected from the board on the morning of their arrival. "If the wire breaks—" He shrugged and did not need to elaborate."So you'd like to have another to practice on." Ashe nodded.

There are certain basic patterns which become familiar—which you can use as the framework for your guess.""Human patterns," Travis reminded. "Here we do not deal with humans.""No, we don't. Unless you widen the definition of human to include any entity with intelligence and the power to use it. Which I believe we shall have to do, now that we are no longer planet—or system—bound.

And men from his world would search and speculate, and learn, and guess—perhaps wrongly. Then, after a while there again would be a new city rising somewhere—maybe on his own world—which would serve as a storehouse of knowledge gained from star to star. Time would pass, and that city, too, would die. Until some representative of a race as yet unborn would come to search and speculate—and guess—Travis slept.

[Laudys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Travis is out in the desert, having a good ol' time looking for water when he stumbles upon our favorite Time Traders, gets himself captured and, because people willing to sacrifice their lives for science ain't that common, ends up in the team.

And this time, the Time Traders are searching for something and to find it, they need to go back, way back: to the time when man hunted mammoths and had no idea what personal hygiene meant.

But prehistoric men, hungry saber tooths and angry volcanoes are the least of their problems, because they find exactly what they were looking for: the original crash site of a spaceship. And the thing is, it works. Which could be actually cool if they weren't trapped inside.

Which brings me to the point in this review when I go:

Okay. That was... weird.

I went to bed in the wee hours of the morning because this book refused to be put down. It just, wouldn't let go of my hands. There was a moment when I was very positive something bad, very bad would happen. But our heroes are made of tough stuff, and something as little as space travel in an alien spaceship they don't even comprehend won't make them roll over and accept their fate. Oh no. This aliens are up to a fight.

And while the book raises more questions than the answers it gives, it was a chilling, suspenseful, I-need-to-know-what-happens-next read. 7 books in this series, 5 more to go.

[Wampuscat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adventure sci-fi novel has a plot hatched through pure bad luck in timing, which is odd in itself because it happens to a group of time agents. While trying to recover an advanced spaceship from 12,000 years in Earth's past, three time agents and one unlucky tech take refuge from a volcanic eruption and stampeding wooly mammoths inside the vessel. Unfortunately, the attempt by the agency to pull the ship through to the 20th century, although successful, accidentally launches it on an intergalactic trip back to it's place of origin.... 12,000 years ago.

I was fully engrossed into this second installment of the time traders saga almost from page one. New worlds and technology unfold before your mind's eye, and your guess as to how it works is as good as any, because it is completely alien to the characters as well. I found this one to be right up my alley, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves good old-fashioned adventure sci-fi. I give it 4 stars and call it a Great Read!

[Kris Sellgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful science fiction novel written after Sputnik but before any human space flight. Four men find themselves on an abandoned alien spaceship which takes off with them on board. Two of them are characters from The Time Traders, including Ross Murdock. Travis Fox, an Apache rancher, is introduced. The ship is on a pre-programmed route, and the humans have no idea where they are going or if they can figure out how to return to Earth. They make several stops at what are clearly the remnant bases of a fallen galactic empire. The suspense is constant, from whether they can refuel to whether they will die of starvation because they don’t know if they can eat alien rations. They encounter dangerous beings at several planets, some sentient, some not. The author does a good job of guessing what the hardships of space travel might be in the pre-cosmonaut and pre-astronaut era. The men find many interesting and mysterious items while scavenging alien ruins. The adventures are exciting and the novel well written. This novel reminds me of why I loved Andre Norton as a teen.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

In book #2 of the Time Traders series, Travis Fox, an Apache rancher, stumbles on a time-travel project and is recruited for it. Sent back to prehistoric America, he and his team seek advanced techology left by a space faring race of aliens. What they find is an intact alien spaceship. Attempting to bring the entire spaceship through the time portal, they succeed in activating the engines. Thus begins an involuntary trip aboard an alien starship that crashed on Earth before recorded history. What they find are the remmants of the the alien civilization. What happened to their civilization? Will Travis and friends make it back to their own world? A great continuation of a classic tale of adventure.

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

second read - 22 June 2013 - **** I've been re-reading Andre Norton's 1950s series The Time Traders, that I first read when I was 13 or something like that. They are simplistic, of course, but I am enjoying re-experiencing the adventures. I downloaded all four novels from Amazon in kindle format for free.
#1: The Time Traders (1958)
#2: Galactic Derelict (1959)
#3: The Defiant Agents (1962)
#4: Key Out of Time (1963)

In this volume, Ross Murdoch and companions travel blindly in a Baldie spaceship that crashed on Earth in a past era, just ahead of their Cold War rivals. This is one of the novels I remember best.

first read - 1968 - ***** I read this book from the library when I was about 13 and loved it.

[Jim Mcclanahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sequel to Time Traders, the characters change slightly. Ash is now more professorial in addition to being an action hero. And now a new player in the scenario is introduced in the person of a native American ranch hand. As with the first book in the series, this story is not only dated, but also somewhat ethnocentric. However, if one brushes those concerns aside (Edgar Rice Burroughs was much worse in his ethnic foibles), the story is captivating. A trip through the galaxy at the mercy of alien programmed guidance systems and attempts to return to home territory make for an entertaining ride.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure which books were the very first SF novels I ever read, but I know I read Time Traders and Galactic Derelict as a teenager in the 1960's. I liked both, but the "tour of the galaxy's worlds" in Galactic Derelict especially impressed me and left me with fond memories. I'm not sure how much I'd like it as an older adult with many years of SF and science reading behind me. I have an ebook of it from Baen that I got thinking I'd give it a try, but I haven't done it yet.

I haven't had any children of my own, so I'm not familiar enough with how this compares to modern YA reading. But it's something you might consider for teens.

[J Roland Barron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awful

A real muddle. What is this about?? Stupid..., And then you turn the page and it says "the end". What?

[Carole O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this it was a bit slow to start , but as the story started to unfold I was unable to put the book down.

It is a classic sci=fi written in the 1950's it is the second in the series, the first book is called "Time Traders" which was a brilliant read from the first page, this series has 8 stories in and I plan on reading every single one of them.

The second book in the series sees them going into space and visiting other planets, hope all those who love Sci-fi give this a chance.

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cold war young adult/boy's adventure in time & space. A lot lighter on the cold war theme than the first book in the series, this one makes good on the promise made in Time Traders of space adventure as the team find themselves the accidental crew of a twelve thousand year old space ship's attempt to return home.
I liked it. It was a fast read with a straightforward plot with a couple of interesting bits.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an Andre Norton novel I read in the 60's. I enjoyed it. In Galactic Derelict, Travis (an Apache) stumbles upon a group about to travel to prehistoric times. He ends up going to the past with them. They all have an interesting series of adventures - including being trapped on a traveling space ship.

[Kirt · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read this in sixth grade, I was hooked for life. I had to find a better dictionary than I then had to understand the title, but that was only after I'd already read it, having been sucked in by the cover illustation and not been disappointed.

[Don Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read in another classic Sci-Fi from the masterful Andre Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005)features the use of recovered alien technology, to enable humans travel to the stars

[Bram Slaats · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second book in this series took the me on a really interesting ride. I liked how the author shaped the world and how even though most stuff was alien it still held some semblance to our world.

I give this 4 out of 5 stars

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remembered this Andre Norton book the most vividly from my childhood due to the settings and unusual (for the time) viewpoint of the main character. I'm pleased to see it has held up well upon a re-read.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great old style science fiction romp. I particularly like the way he raises the issue of racism without preaching, keeping in perspective when the book was written I think it was quite effective, but did not distract from the story.