Nebula Science Fiction #28

# Nebula Science-Fiction, March 1958

This issue features science fiction stories alongside scientific articles. The lead novelette is Robert Silverberg's "Solitary," set in a future where a vast analog computer named TOTIVAC handles crime investigation across the galaxy. George Brauer, a Crime Bureau analyst frustrated by his reduced role as mere data processor, requisitions files on unsolved crimes spanning thirty years and thousands of star systems. Among thousands of cards he receives—covering petty theft, voyeurism, and pet theft—he discovers the case of Edward Hammond Charcot, a repeat offender (petty theft, kidnapping) who escaped from a Procyon IV correctory in May 2560 and remains at large.

The issue also includes an editorial by Peter Hamilton discussing post-Sputnik scientific optimism, Kenneth Johns's nonfiction article "The Solar Bomb" explaining stellar hydrogen fusion, short stories by Philip E. High ("Shift Case"), Robert J. Tilley ("Necessity"), Robert Presslie ("Verdict"), and Stuart Allen ("Forgivable Error"), and E.C. Tubb's novel Touch of Reality involving lunar exploration. Additional features cover Pluto, film previews, and science-fiction book reviews.