SOLVED. SF short story from the 50's or 60's [s]

[Ann aka Iftcan]

The story dealt with 2 humans and the last living native Moon creature.

In this story, mankind has spread out from the Earth, finding life on various other planets (I no longer remember if it was only in our solar system or if they had spread out and found life in other systems.)

The 2 main characters are 2 men who run a small transport ship--they move things from planet A to Moon C or wherever you want it sent. They are nearing Earth (or leaving Earth, not sure which) and have a problem with their ship's engine, so they decide to set down in a crater on the Moon. (view spoiler)[As they are setting down, the crater opens up, and they find themselves traveling down a tunnel that finally ends in a giant cavern that has an atmosphere. There they meet the last Moon creature. The Moon creatures struck me as being a bit like plants, in that they grew from seedlings, only needed ONE parent and were "born" knowing everything that their species had known--from language to science to poetry etc. The one thing that the Moonling needed to reproduce was copper, which had run out of with its own fertilization. It fixed the problem with the space ship (and made the ship much more fuel efficient) and the 2 men left it, leaving behind a length of copper tubing so that it could repopulate it's species. (hide spoiler)]

As you can tell from the spoiler, I remember a LOT about the story, just not the 2 most import things--it's title and author. So, anyone have any ideas?

[Ann aka Iftcan]

bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

This was definitely in one of the Sci-fi magazines of the time. I found it many years later at a library sale and bought it for like 10 or 15 cents, took it home to read and then it disappeared at some time. I will admit that my Father liked that kind of book too, as did a few friends, so it could have been "borrowed" and never returned. I just wish I could find this thing again.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Short Story bump

[Julia ♡ Sarcasm and Romance Addict ♡]

Perhaps The First Men in the Moon? From a quick glance it has two men being on the moon for some reason, and finding alien plants/seed-things living underneath

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Thanks for the suggestion Julia, but that's not it. The one I'm looking for is definitely set in the future when space travel is the norm.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

* free bump *

[Ayshe]

"The Wings of Night" by Lester del Rey? It was suggested to that similar sounding question: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/quest...

[Scott]

If it is "The Wings of Night" (and it sounds very much like it is), it can be found in Great Stories of Space Travel, edited by Groff Conklin. It was originally published in Astounding Science Fiction in March 1942.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Ayshe--can I kiss you? That's IT. I've been looking for that story for longer than I want to admit. So I "rushed" over to B&N and downloaded a copy of the book that Scott said it could be found in. Now to settle back and enjoy my story again.

And I've probably got a dozen books that del Rey either wrote or edited sitting around the house. Heck, I might even have a dead tree version of Great Stories of Space Travel somewhere. But I really do think that it was the old magazine that I found it in. And it's still possible that my Dad or one of my brothers, or a friend could have borrowed it and never returned it. (Back in the days when I was young and foolish and loaned my books out. I don't do that any more. Nope, now I hug them and pet them and call them. . . )well, you all know the quote, right?

[Scott]

It is a wonderful collection and I am glad you were able to get a copy!

[Ayshe]

Great! :) Btw, the scifi.stackexchange.com answer has link to isfdb.org with list of covers of the works it's been included in, here's the same list without covers: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cg...

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Thanks Ayshe. And the wonderful thing is--the book that Scott said had it in (and that I was able to find an ebook version of) also had another story in it that I would think about off and on over the years. Hadn't ever written it down in here to search for, But I really was happy to see it too.