# A Pail of Air

By Fritz Leiber.

"A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber is a science fiction short story published in 1951. Earth has been torn from the Sun by a dark star, freezing the atmosphere solid. A ten-year-old boy narrates his family's survival in a makeshift shelter, where they gather pails of frozen oxygen to breathe. They maintain a small fire for warmth in a world plunged into absolute darkness and cold, waiting alone on a dead planet. (Summary by Project Gutenberg, written by machine.)

- Language: English
- Illustrator: Ed Emshwiller
- Subjects: Science fiction; Short stories; Survival -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction

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From Project Gutenberg. Public domain in the United States.