Chapter 9 of Peril of the Starmen is here in full — 83 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IX
Chapter 9 of Peril of the Starmen is here in full — 83 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud. The ships were motionless. Slowly suspense mounted. At last one ship opened its port. The landing ladder spun away.
Chapter 9 of Peril of the Starmen is here in full — 83 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/16 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
a partially opened flower
From this reading “Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.”
a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests
From this reading “Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.”
steps consisting of two parallel members connected by rungs; for climbing up or down
From this reading “The landing ladder spun away.”
an intermediate platform in a staircase
From this reading “The landing ladder spun away.”
not in physical motion
From this reading “The ships were motionless.”
predatory arachnid with eight legs, two poison fangs, two feelers, and usually two silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey
From this reading “Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.”
inflected form of “spin” — revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
From this reading “The landing ladder spun away.”
apprehension about what is going to happen
From this reading “Slowly suspense mounted.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading At last one ship opened its port.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading The landing ladder spun away.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
a partially opened flower
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
divisible by two
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
the act of departing
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
the solid part of the earth's surface
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading At last one ship opened its port.
inflected form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
steps consisting of two parallel members connected by rungs; for climbing up or down
From this reading The landing ladder spun away.
an intermediate platform in a staircase
From this reading The landing ladder spun away.
immediately past
From this reading At last one ship opened its port.
not in physical motion
From this reading The ships were motionless.
assembled for use; especially by being attached to a support
From this reading Slowly suspense mounted.
kill intentionally and with premeditation
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading At last one ship opened its port.
used of mouth or eyes
From this reading At last one ship opened its port.
a place (seaport or airport) where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country
From this reading At last one ship opened its port.
transport commercially
From this reading At last one ship opened its port.
plural of “ship” — a vessel that carries passengers or freight
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
without speed (“slow” is sometimes used informally for “slowly”)
From this reading Slowly suspense mounted.
predatory arachnid with eight legs, two poison fangs, two feelers, and usually two silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
inflected form of “spin” — revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
From this reading The landing ladder spun away.
apprehension about what is going to happen
From this reading Slowly suspense mounted.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
having come into contact
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Herb knew, even before the spider ships touched ground, that he was going to murder Bud.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The ships were motionless.
Chapter 9 of Peril of the Starmen by Kris Neville holds 83 sentences, grouped into 17 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 9 holds 83 sentences of Peril of the Starmen, unabridged, divided into 17 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of Peril of the Starmen by Kris Neville exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 83 sentences, grouped into 17 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 17 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 17 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 9 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading Peril of the Starmen by Kris Neville on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Peril of the Starmen section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of Peril of the Starmen to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Peril of the Starmen, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
