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    A Pail of Air
    A Pail of Air
    A Pail of Air
    Ebook22 pages21 minutes

    A Pail of Air

    By Fritz Leiber

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    The dark star passed, bringing with it eternal night and turning history into incredible myth in a single generation! In this story of desperation and courage a family believing themselves to be the last humans alive on Earth must fight daily against a cold uncaring universe. Fritz Leiber won multiple Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. This story shows him at the height of his prowess.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilder Publications, Inc.
    Release dateMar 25, 2016
    ISBN9781515405252
    Author

    Fritz Leiber

    Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) was the highly acclaimed author of numerous science fiction stories and novels, many of which were made into films. He is best known as creator of the classic Lankhmar fantasy series. Leiber has won many awards, including the coveted Hugo and Nebula, and was honored as a lifetime Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

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      An Anthology of Leiber's short Science Fiction from 1951 to 1961. It contains an early take on computerized chess, "The 64-square Madhouse", and the famous title story about an Earth lost in Interstellar Space

    Book preview

    A Pail of Air - Fritz Leiber

    A Pail of Air

    By Fritz Leiber

    2016 Positronic Publishing

    Cover Image © Can Stock Photo Inc. / ktarrier

    Positronic Publishing

    PO Box 632

    Floyd VA 24091

    ISBN 13: 978-1-5154-0525-2

    First Positronic Publishing Edition

    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    A Pail of Air

    By Fritz Leiber

    The dark star passed, bringing with it eternal night and turning history into incredible myth in a single generation!

    *

    Pa had sent me out to get an extra pail of air. I’d just about scooped it full and most of the warmth had leaked from my fingers when I saw the thing.

    You know, at first I thought it was a young lady. Yes, a beautiful young lady’s face all glowing in the dark and looking at me from the fifth floor of the opposite apartment, which hereabouts is the floor just above the white blanket of frozen air. I’d never seen a live young lady before, except in the old magazines—Sis is just a kid and Ma is pretty sick and miserable—and it gave me such a start that I dropped the pail. Who wouldn’t, knowing everyone on Earth was dead except Pa and Ma and Sis and you?

    Even at that, I don’t suppose I should have been surprised. We all see things now and then. Ma has some pretty bad ones, to judge from the way she bugs her eyes at nothing and just screams and screams and huddles back against the blankets hanging around the Nest. Pa says it is natural we should react like that sometimes.

    When I’d recovered the pail and could look again at the opposite apartment,

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