Morgue Ship by Ray Bradbury
"Morgue Ship" by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction short story written during the mid-20th century. Set in the vastness of space amidst the backdrop of an ongoing war, the narrative centers around the grim duty of retrieving the bodies of fallen warriors and preserving them for burial. It explores themes of loss, the futility of war, and the human desire to escape from a cycle of violence. The story follows SamBurnett, a weary coroner aboard the morgue ship "Constellation", who has spent ten years collecting the bodies of dead soldiers in the aftermath of galactic battles. During a final mission, Burnett discovers that among the bodies is Lethla, the assistant to a powerful enemy commander, Kriere. As the story unfolds, Lethla reveals that Kriere is still alive but in danger, prompting a tense standoff aboard the ship. The climax arrives as Burnett must navigate the dichotomy of his grim duties against the weight of his burgeoning morality. In a decisive moment, he captures Kriere using the ship's retrieval claws, symbolically completing his duty but also shedding light on the impact of the war on humanity and the cycle of death it perpetuates. Ultimately, Burnett's journey ends in a poignant reflection on the cost of war and what it means to survive in its wake. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Bradbury, Ray, 1920-2012 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Doolin, Joseph, 1896-1967 |
| Title | Morgue Ship |
| Note | Reading ease score: 86.3 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Credits | Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | War stories |
| Subject | Space ships -- Fiction |
| Subject | Morgues -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 63041 |
| Release Date | Aug 25, 2020 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 179 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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