USS Tantalus (ARL-27) USS Tantalus (ARL-27) USS "Tantalus" (ARL-27) was one of 39 "Achelous"-class landing craft repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Tantalus (a legendary king of Lydia condemned to stand in a pool of water up to his chin and beneath fruit-laden boughs only to have the water or fruit recede at each attempt to drink or eat), she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. Originally laid down as "LST-1117" on 10 October 1944 at Seneca, Illinois by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company; launched on 2 January 1945; sponsored
A Planet Named Shayol A Planet Named Shayol "A Planet Named Shayol" is a science fiction story by American writer Cordwainer Smith (pen name of Paul Linebarger), set in his Instrumentality universe. It was first published in "Galaxy Science Fiction" magazine in October 1961. In the story, a man convicted of crimes against the Empire is sent for punishment on the planet Shayol—a name derived from Sheol, the Hebrew afterlife. Mercer has been convicted of a crime that has no name. He is condemned to the planet Shayol, from where they broadcast the screams of the damned on the occasion of the Emperor's birthday.