Star Chamber

Some criminals hide in crowded cities. Others vanish into the dark between the stars. In Star Chamber by H. B. Fyfe, a brutal fugitive believes he has escaped human law forever after crashing on an unnamed world beyond the edges of explored space. Years of isolation have turned the planet into a rough kind of refuge, complete with scavenged tools, crude farming, and the comforting belief that no one will ever find him again.

Then a single Terran ship lands nearby.

The man who steps out is not an army. He is not even a squad of officers. Detective Trolla arrives alone, carrying little more than a gas gun, a force shield, and a difficult decision. Bringing Quasmin back alive may be impossible. Leaving him free may be worse. As the two men circle each other across an alien landscape, their conversation becomes more dangerous than any weapon either carries. Every argument about justice, rights, punishment, and rehabilitation suddenly matters when there is nobody else within fifty billion miles to enforce the law.

H. B. Fyfe built a strong reputation in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s, publishing stories in Galaxy Science Fiction, Astounding Science Fiction, If, and Amazing Stories. He often placed ordinary people under pressure in isolated or unfamiliar environments, allowing tension and personality to drive the story rather than spectacle alone. Star Chamber is one of Fyfe's sharpest moral confrontations, stripping civilization down to two men, one remote planet, and a decision neither can escape.