“The Gun” September 1952

Seeing evidence of what looks like atomic fission on a large scale, a planet sends a ship and small crew to investigate this hitherto unknown place. Nuclear war has destroyed the entire planet. The crew members repeatedly show complete bewilderment that two peoples on the same planet would fight one another. Their ship is hit by atomic shells just when it flies close to the ruins of a city. The captain is injured and later dies. Nasha, his dark-haired girl assistant leads a search party to explore the ruins of the planet. They find a giant gun that launches nuclear warheads at anything that moves close to the surface of the planet. As in the old myths, it is the “dragon” that guards the treasure. The treasure turns out to be primarily the former society’s literature, art, etc. They decide to bring it back to their planet to study it, but first must disable the gun, which they do easily by following the universal myth that describes the dragon’s soft underbelly—its vulnerable spot. Having disabled the gun, they repair their ship and start back toward home, where they will prepare to return for the now unguarded “treasure.” As they leave, a red light goes off in the damaged gun sending a signal that summons a series of repair carts to bring parts and new warheads to the gun.The gun will be ready for them when they return. Like similar stories from the era, it is largely cold-war parable, but there is a good deal more going on.