CASTAWAY

Episode #502 · Written by A. Bertram Chandler · Narrated by Scott Miller

The sea nearly takes him. The island offers sand, brackish water, and the faint comfort of a signal fire that once promised rescue. Yet when he follows the only footprints on the beach, he finds not a fellow survivor but a structure rising from the jungle—a vessel too large, too advanced, and too silent to belong to any navy he has ever known.

Inside, the years have left their mark. Skeletons sit before control panels. Food stores are sealed in unfamiliar containers. A logbook names the ship Centaurus and calls her interstellar. He can read the words, but he cannot accept what they imply. One compartment holds a device labeled the Mannschen Drive, complete with instructions that refer to something called temporal precession. There are two buttons he understands: START and STOP.

Meanwhile, a ship appears on the horizon. Its funnel colors are unmistakable. If he lights a beacon, he may be saved. If he ignores it and experiments with the machine, he may never see the sea the same way again. He is exhausted, shaken, and standing between rescue and a mechanism that has already outlived its crew.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A. Bertram Chandler (1912–1984) spent decades at sea before becoming one of Australia’s most recognized science fiction writers. He served in the merchant marine and the Royal Australian Naval Reserve during World War II, eventually reaching the rank of captain. His professional maritime experience gave his fiction an authenticity that set it apart from many contemporaries. Chandler became best known for the John Grimes “Rim World” novels and stories, published in magazines such as Astounding Science Fiction and later Analog, where his blend of space travel and naval tradition earned a devoted readership.

Castaway reflects that background directly. The protagonist’s reactions—measured, procedural, grounded in shipboard habit—carry the weight of lived experience. Chandler’s long career bridged sea stories and starships, and here he places a disciplined officer before a machine that challenges everything he thought he knew about distance, motion, and return.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to Castaway by A. Bertram Chandler — a vintage science fiction tale of a stranded sailor, a mysterious starship, and a choice that may alter time itself.

ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST

The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 34 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.7 million listens.

Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.

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