Startling Stories (New Zealand Edition)

OVERDRIVE, a novelet by Murray Leinster

A space-liner named the Delilah, traveling between planets in overdrive, experiences a catastrophic failure. Protagonist Jim Brent recognizes the gravity of the situation: when an interstellar ship's overdrive field cuts off mid-voyage, rescue is virtually impossible—it will be lost among the stars with its crew and passengers facing inevitable deterioration and madness before supplies run out.

Brent, a man of mysterious "Professional" status investigating a series of planet murders—four worlds discovered entirely looted and depopulated—must navigate the ship's tense social atmosphere. Also aboard is Kit Harlow, daughter of an Earth Commerce Commissioner. As panic spreads among passengers receiving reassuring false announcements, Brent grapples with impossible circumstances. The narrative establishes that contact with their base is impossible; radiation travels at light-speed only, and any message would take years to reach home, if at all.