pulps
El poder estelar
"El poder estelar" by A. Thorkent is a science fiction story set on an unnamed planet where feudal society is organized around knightly orders serving various monarchs. These medieval-armored knights carry ceremonial energy pistols—relics from an imperial past now depleted of power—as symbols of authority. The official religion worships two supreme gods, Taron and Diala, represented by the planet's two moons. Knight Dole of Taran witnesses a light falling from the sky and investigates, discovering a transparent cylinder in a forest clearing containing an unconscious woman named Orala. Three bandits—Endere, Kale, and Caron—have already found her, intending to sell her into slavery or assault her. Dole confronts and kills all three in combat, then tends to Orala. Upon waking, she speaks the same language but with an unfamiliar accent and expresses confusion about slavery and the nature of the light she produced—suggesting extraterrestrial origin. The narrative breaks off mid-conversation as Orala begins explaining her descent.