Title of Mercury based sci-fi story.

[Vimto]

Many years ago I read a science fiction short story which was set on the planet Mercury and have forgotten the title and author and would like to read it again.
The story was about a spaceship which had crash landed near to the twilight zone and two different teams of survivors had set up camps near to one another. I shall call them the goodies and the baddies. The life spans of these people were speeded up to ten days or so because of the increase in metabolism. Generations were born and died. The aim of each generation was passed on which was to reach the Mother ship and possible safety but because of the then perceived nature of Mercury there wasn't enough time at dawn or dusk to achieve this and people who attempted it were either caught in the deadly freezing night or the equally hostile boiling day-time temperatures. There was also the added danger of raids from the hostile camp. The hero of the story discovers a way of reaching the Mother ship along with his woman and they manage to escape from the planet and miraculously their metabolisms return to normal and they all live happily ever after! Sounds corny, I know and I have deliberately made it sound so but I did enjoy it. Can anyone help please with a source or suggest where I might enquire further? Thank you.

[cancross]

I can't find anything definite:

There's Mission To Mercury:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_to_Mercur y

Sunrise on Mercury by Robert Silverberg

Any of these ring a bell?

[Vimto]

Hello cancross, I'm afraid I already looked these up and they don't fit the bill; thanks anyhow.

[paddywak]

sounds like the Sean Connery film Outlands,tho I seem to remember it was on an asteroid mining camp, not Mercury

[NiceCupOfTea]

Are you sure you didn't dream it? You should write your own version, it sounds fabulous. I love Arthur C Clarke's short stories, but I don't think it's one of his as I've read all of them (I think!).

[Vimto]

Thanks for the compliment Typhoo. I'm pretty sure I didn't dream it but because of the difficulty in tracing this story I am beginning to wonder. Surely I ask myself, there must be someone out there who has read it that recalls the plot.
I'll bet that if I did take your kind advice and sat down and wrote it up and managed to have it published I'd have a plagiarism suit slapped on me pretty quick. On the other hand it might be the quickest way of solving the mystery!

[NiceCupOfTea]

Go plagiarism!! Speedier, as you say.

Try contacting the sci-fi buffs at the Liverpool Uni library as I'm sure they put out an appeal for all sorts of stories and whatnot to be sent in to them a while back. One of them may well know this story.