H. G. Wells The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells, Science Fiction, Classics

Two men left for the moon -- but only one will come back. . . . Cavor, a brilliant scientist, accidentally produces a gravity-defying substance. And what to do with a substance like that? Well, if it's the turn of the twentieth century, when Wells was writing, the only thing to do was build a spaceship and travel to the moon. Cavor just wants to understand the moon, but along on the trip with him is Bedford, a cold and calculating business man who's in it for nothing but money. Instead of insight and gold they encounter the Selenites, a horrifying race of biologically engineered creatures vaguely reminiscent of jumped-up ants, who viciously -- and successfully -- defend their home. . . . "Why do people read science fiction? In hopes of receiving such writing as this -- a ravishingly accurate vision of things unseen; an utterly unexpected yet necessary beauty." -- Ursula K. Le Guin