The Project Gutenberg EBook of The God in the Box, by Sewell Peaslee Wright

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The God in the Box

Author: Sewell Peaslee Wright

Release Date: May 6, 2009 [EBook #28705]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOD IN THE BOX ***

Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note: This e-text was produced from Astounding Stories,
September, 1931. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

[Illustration: "_A little object lesson, as it were!_"]

The God in the Box

_By Sewell Peaslee Wright_

[Sidenote: In the course of his Special Patrol duties Commander John
Hanson resolves the unique and poignant mystery of "toma annerson."]

This is a story I never intended to tell. I would not even tell it now
if it were not for the Zenians.

Understand that I do not dislike the Zenians. One of the best officers
I ever had was a Zenian. His name was Eitel, and he served under me on
the old _Tamon_, my first command. But lately the Zenians have made
rather too much of the exploits of Ame Baove.

The history of the Universe gives him credit, and justly, for making
the first successful exploration in space. Baove's log of that trip is
a classic that every school-child knows.

But I have a number of friends who are natives of Zenia, and they fret
me with their boastings.

"Well, Hanson," they say, "your Special Patrol Service has done
wonderful work, largely under the officership of Earth-men. But after
all, you have to admit that it was a Zenian who first mastered space!"

Perhaps it is just fractiousness of an old man, but countless
repetitions of such statements, in one form or another, have irritated
me to the point of action--and before going further, let me say, for
the benefit of my Zenian friends, that if they care to dig deeply
enough into the archives, somewhere they will find a brief report of
these adventures recorded in the log of one of my old ships, the
_Ertak_, now scrapped and forgotten. Except, perhaps, by some few like
myself, who