Captain Midas

"Captain Midas" by Alfred Coppel Jr. is a science fiction novella, first published in "Planet Stories" during the late 1940s. This gripping story delves into themes of greed, the quest for treasure, and the costs associated with such pursuits, presenting a morally complex narrative centered around human desires in the vast emptiness of space. The plot follows Captain Midas, the aging captain of the spaceship Martian Maid, who and his rough and ambition-driven crew stumble upon a mysterious derelict ship in space. Enticed by the prospect of treasure, they board the derelict only to discover that it is constructed from an alien metal that can transmute into gold at the cost of their youth and vitality. As the crew increasingly succumbs to the allure of the gold, Midas realizes the sinister truth behind the metal's origins—its power draws energy from life itself, aging its crew into skeletal forms. In a desperate attempt to escape this fate, Midas decides to abandon the treasure, but not before suffering the irreversible consequences. His story serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of greed and the true price of seeking wealth, leaving him physically and spiritually scarred as he reflects on his lost crew and cursed treasure. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Alfred Coppel, Alfredo Jose de Arana-Marini Coppel was an American author. Born in Oakland, he served as a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After his discharge, he started his career as a writer. He became one of the most prolific pulp magazine authors of the 1950s and 1960s, adopting the pseudonyms Robert Cham Gilman and A.C. Marin and writing for a variety of pulp magazines and later "slick" publishers. Though writing in a variety of genres, including action thrillers, he is known for his science fiction stories which comprise both short stories and novels.