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Cover of The Return

The Return

by H. Beam Piper & John J. McGuire (1904–1964)

  • Free to read
  • 45 min read
  • 9 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"The Return" by H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire is a science fiction short story published in 1954. More than 250 years after nuclear war devastated Earth, explorers from Fort Ridgeway encounter a fortified community with a mysterious religion centered on a god who died in battle and will return. The community believes this god taught deductive reasoning and observation. As the explorers seek their help retrieving precious microfilmed books, they discover the community may believe one of them is their awaited deity—a misconception with dangerous implications.

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  • Science fiction

Read the opening

Chapter I

Altamont cast a quick, routine glance at the instrument panels and then looked down through the transparent nose of the helicopter at the yellow-brown river five hundred feet below. Next he scraped the last morsel from his plate and ate it.

"What did you make this out of, Jim?" he asked. "I hope you kept notes while you were concocting it. It's good."

"The two smoked pork chops left over from yesterday evening," Loudons said, "and that bowl of rice that's been taking up space in the refrigerator the last couple of days, together with a little egg powder and some milk. I ground the chops up and mixed them with the rice and other stuff. Then added some bacon, to make grease to fry it in."

Altamont chuckled. That was Loudons, all right: he could take a few left-overs, mess them together, pop them in the skillet, and have a meal that would turn the chef back at the Fort green with envy. He filled his cup and offered the pot.

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Contents

  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX

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About this edition

This free edition of The Return by H. Beam Piper & John J. McGuire comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #19158, released 2006-09-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Science-Fiction & Fantasy, Novels, American Literature.

Other editions: eBook #18855 (most read).

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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