Morgue Ship

"Morgue Ship" by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction tale set during an interstellar war, focusing on the solemn task of collecting fallen soldiers for burial. The story follows the experiences of Sam Burnett, a coroner aboard the morgue ship "Constellation," who is weary from a decade of retrieving bodies from battlefields. His final mission takes an unexpected turn when he finds Lethla, the assistant to the enemy commander Kriere, among the deceased. Lethla reveals Kriere is still alive, but in peril, leading to a tense confrontation on the ship. Burnett is forced to balance his grim duty with his growing sense of right and wrong. The story reaches its peak when Burnett captures Kriere, using the ship's retrieval claws, completing his mission but also highlighting the devastating consequences of war and its unending cycle of death, leaving Burnett to contemplate the true price of survival.