All Cats are Gray, Andre Norton

This is the second piece of Andre Norton (1912-2005) fiction I have read. Andre Norton is a famed and richly decorated author of science fiction and fantasy. It can be found for free at Gutenberg.org. The story's author is listed as Andrew North.

I'm not sure if the note is Norton's or the editor's. However, it seems to attempt to bring some kind of advantage to someone who is disabled. The disability is fairly minor: Steena, the protagonist of this story, is color blind.

I think she's the captain of a salvaging vessel looking to loot The Empress of Mars, a famous ship for having a glorious loot that no one seems to be able to win. Norton calls it "a Flying Dutchman of space." It's haunted by a ghost, or perhaps more accurately, an invisible alien. Because she and the cat called Bat are colorblind, they are able to see the invisible alien who lives only to kill those seeking to plunder The Empress of Mars. Why exactly an alien would want to be stuck all by itself on a ship like that is beyond me. However, Steena is able to barely see the creature, and Bat can see it easily enough. She guns it down and the crew become rich for it.

I wasn't too impressed with this story, either. I have several more of hers to go through in the next few days.