In The Lord of Death, four scientists, aided by reverse-magnetism, travel to a dead planet where they discover that one human's lust for power destroyed all life there-except for him. In suspended animation, he awaits the newcomers. In The Queen of Life, (considered a feminist tale) the scientists (one has revealed herself as a woman) travel to a planet encased in a glass sphere to protect the overpopulated planet from the sun's radiation. Conflict leads to a riot.
Social living requires the elimination, or at very best, the modification of many elements necessary to survival in "nature". And when an emergency arises, very often it is the person who would be considered a "criminal", in other situations, who alone is able to cope with the necessities. If we manage to eliminate "violence" from human affairs, what will we find when a need for "violence" arises--a need outside of man's artificial control of his environment?
Across the void came a man who could not ever have been born--from a world that could never have been conceived--to demand his birthright of an Earth that would have to die to pay it!
An old woman comes to Mars because a fraudulent travel agent offers a "trip to heaven". She and other members of her traveling group find an extremely battered and derelict rocket which was supposed to be used for the last part of the trip. And it is used for that trip, in a pretty literal sense.
All Dave Miller wanted to do was commit suicide in peace. He tried, but the things that happened after he'd pulled the trigger were all wrong. Like everyone standing around like statues. No St. Peter, no pearly gate, no pitchforks or halos. He might just as well have saved the bullet!
Well, it seems that Ivar Jorgensen has hit on the ultimate engine of destruction: a weapon designed to exploit man's greatest weakness. The blueprint can be found in the next few pages; and as the soldier in the story says, our only hope is to keep a sense of humor!