The Haunted Stars

Robert Howard
writing as Edmund Hamilton

This book is fascinating. It dates itself, but that does not detract from the overall story. It was written in the late 50's or early 60's and the Cold War influences this book in many of the secondary stories. The main story still holds its own.

Man has reached the moon and started building bases there. The American site has uncovered something unexpected. A 30,000 year old ruined star base has been buried on the Moon and is recoverable. The ruins were results from a war, not environmental wearing.

Linguists are brought in to try to decipher a totally new language. The machines are studied. The former inhabitants were obviously humanoid because of some articles left behind. The technology is years ahead of anything Man has on Earth. They are sure if they study the technology enough, they can discover how to travel to the stars.

The further they dig, the more they learn. The star drive does appear to be obtainable. But there is the ominous warning. The group at the star base lost an intergalactic war and were warned not to return to the stars. What will happen if Man disregards that warning?