Elegy

"Elegy" by Charles Beaumont is a science fiction tale set in the vast emptiness of space, where Captain Webber and his crew stumble upon an astounding discovery while stranded and desperate for fuel: a perfectly constructed city on an asteroid. The crew's arrival reveals a world of eerie familiarity shadowed by surreal events, as they soon find themselves in Happy Glades, an artificial haven managed by the strange Mr. Greypoole. They slowly uncover the haunting truth that their blissful surroundings are, in reality, an elaborate cemetery built to mimic life for the deceased, trapping peaceful residents in a never-ending loop of normalcy. As they navigate this chilling paradise, the implications of immortality and artificially preserved contentment force the captain to confront the profound nature of existence.