Project Gutenberg 2008-01-21 Public domain in the USA. 66 Von Wald, E. G. Wald, E. G. von Van Dongen, H. R. 1920 2010 Van Dongen, Henry Richard Dongen, H. R. Van Dongen, van Shock Absorber Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Shock Absorber" by E. G. Von Wald is a science fiction narrative that explores themes of military strategy and psychological warfare in a futuristic setting. Written in the mid-20th century, it delves into the complexities of leadership and human behavior against the backdrop of a war between humans and an alien race. The story centers on a group of military personnel dealing with the challenges posed by the newly commissioned Psi Corps officers, who possess extra-rational mental faculties deemed essential for combat. The plot revolves around Commander Frendon, the new captain of a battle-worn space combat ship, who faces skepticism and hostility from his crew, who believe he is a "sickman" affiliated with the Psi Corps. Lieutenant Alton Maise, the executive officer, navigates the subtle tensions among the crew as they grapple with their distrust of Frendon’s leadership, which they believe relies on guesswork rather than strategy. As the narrative unfolds, Frendon struggles to earn the crew's respect while an underlying conspiracy regarding his qualifications emerges, culminating in a ruse to either undermine or discredit him. The characters reflect on loyalty, fear, and survival as they prepare for imminent combat with alien forces. Through these dynamics, Von Wald presents a compelling examination of trust, command, and the psychological strains of warfare. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories War stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 78571 78580 2024-09-10T11:20:48.664915 2023-09-11T04:45:42.898653 text/html text/html 75276 2008-01-21T09:22:28 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 314522 2008-01-21T09:22:28 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 376507 2024-09-10T11:20:52.375872 application/epub+zip 376083 2024-09-10T11:20:50.076910 application/epub+zip 77145 2024-09-10T11:20:49.239886 application/epub+zip 449081 2024-09-10T11:20:54.065970 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 442153 2024-09-10T11:20:51.797904 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 143989 2022-09-11T09:46:35.025318 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 70096 70001 2024-09-10T11:20:48.246930 2023-09-11T04:45:42.515689 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 69977 2008-01-21T09:22:28 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 26858 2008-01-21T09:22:28 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 69968 2008-01-21T09:22:28 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26840 2008-01-21T09:22:28 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 21034 2024-09-10T11:20:54.214906 application/rdf+xml 11766 2024-09-10T11:20:49.576882 image/jpeg 3293 2024-09-10T11:20:49.407926 image/jpeg 365872 2024-09-10T11:20:48.683935 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia