The Impossible Pirate

The Impossible Pirate launches a hard-science space adventure with a mystery that seems to defy physics itself. Lieutenant Jeffries is assigned six months of unattached duty to hunt the legendary Black Morgan, a pirate who humiliates the Solar Police with raids no one can explain and who turns Jeffries into a public laughingstock across the solar system. Jeffries boards the Martian Queen as a cheerful tourist, waiting for Morgan to strike, only to see the outlaw seize the ship's valuables with chilling precision. But the pirate's greatest weapon is his apparent impossibility: delayed signals, false targets, and a false ship make every attack seem supernatural. Driven to obsession, disgrace, and near ruin, Jeffries follows the evidence where others see only absurdity. At last he deduces the truth, corners Morgan aboard a Guardship, and exposes the elaborate illusion before scientists and officials. Blending police-procedural tension, technical ingenuity, and fast-moving planetary adventure, this classic tale turns an "impossible" crime into a triumph of observation and reason. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.