Breaking Point

An Earth ship arrives at a new planet, but they cannot walk out the airlock. They are trapped by unseen aliens on their ship--aliens who create various distortions in reality, such as the disappearance of the port replaced by "a smooth, seamless curtain of impenetrable black." The aliens test the crew members to see what their breaking points are. This is only a mystery in the science-fictional sense, but very like the locked-room variety. The strangeness of events and the pressure-cooker atmosphere give it the sense of an old Twilight Zone episode (before Twilight Zone existed). This isn't whirlwind paced, so maybe that's what one of the readers complained of, but it is a fascinating examination of what humans are capable of withstanding (i.e. can you take six impossible things before breakfast?).


A well-observed writing sample: "Paresi was the Doctor, and had many a salve and many a splint for invisible ills. He saw everything and understood much. He leaned against the bulkhead, his gaze flicking from one to the other of the crew. Occasionally his small mustache twitched like the antennae of a cat watching a bird."