Amazing Stories of Suspense #15

In "He Stayed Down Too Long!", a ruthless pearl diver boss named Mason challenges a mysterious newcomer, Kor, to a dive-off to save face among the islanders. What Mason doesn’t know is that Kor isn’t human—he’s a water-breathing alien whose true nature gives him an impossible edge beneath the waves.

In "Germ Warfare," a lone medical researcher on a remote boat experiments with a mysterious germ, accidentally growing it to human size—only to find himself hunted by the creature he unleashed. As the giant germ commandeers the vessel and heads for a secluded island to breed a legion of its kind, a sudden atomic test throws the island into chaos.

In a future where humans fight a war against sentient robots, the machines attempt to infiltrate human lines by sending a spy disguised as a human. The spy’s actions lead the defenders into a dangerous ambush—only to reveal a shocking twist: the so-called human was actually a robot in disguise, and the real enemy has been watching from within.

In "A Thousand Years Later...", a scientist who has extended his life for a millennium watches as Earth's population grows beyond control and civilization collapses. Left alone on a forgotten world, he finds an unexpected companion in a young woman, and together they face the quiet weight of being the last two souls on Earth—facing a future built from nothing.

In "I Was a Decoy for Pildorr: The Plunderer from Outer Space!", a lone pilot is sent on a high-stakes mission to deliver a crucial cargo through a pirate-infested sector of space. Captured and cast adrift, he finds himself at the mercy of the notorious Pildorr, only to discover his true nature as a robot—and the explosive secret hidden in the cargo that could turn the tide against the raiders.

In "The Ape Man," a desperate criminal fleeing justice bets on a legend—claiming the jungle holds a monstrous ape man to scare off his pursuers. But when the tale proves all too real, he discovers the curse is not just a myth, but a terrible transformation that traps him in the form of a beast until he can pass it on to another.

In "The Man Who Fell!", the town's mayor, desperate to prove a gypsy seer wrong, locks himself in the basement to defy her prophecy of a fatal fall. As he lies bound, he watches in dread as a chandelier above him begins to sway—loose, unstable, and inching toward disaster.

In "The Man Who Shrunk the World!", a time-traveling scientist from the future arrives in the 1960s with a plan to dominate the world using a mysterious shrinking gas. After testing it on himself, he finds he’s too small to reach the antidote—and begins to vanish into nothingness.

In "The Thing Hunts for Me!", a woman staying at a boarding house is warned by an old man that she’s being hunted by a shape-shifting alien. After he collapses and dies, she feels a strange relief—knowing she’s the alien, and that she won’t have to carry out the killing.

In "Somewhere Sits a Lama," a desperate villager ventures into a secluded monastery seeking the secret to eternal life. What he discovers is a strange, silent vow: to live forever, he must remain perfectly still in a single room—waiting for another to take his place.