O livro de histórias de ficção científica da Random House tem o seu título genérico ("HISTÓRIAS DE FICÇÃO CIENTÍFICA" em letras grandes, "O Livro da Casa Aleatória de" em letras minúsculas), tem um monte de naves espaciais (bem três delas) no capa e foi publicado em junho de 1997, no final dos anos 90. Foi publicado um ano antes no Reino Unido, mas com um título diferente ( histórias de espaço ) e um diferente cobertura (sem naves espaciais). Parece conter uma das duas histórias que você descreveu. Estou apenas mencionando este livro sobre a possibilidade de você estar misturando uma das histórias com outra história que leu em outro lugar.
A história sobre pessoas da Terra correndo contra alienígenas invisíveis em um planeta estrangeiro (mencionado em seu comentário) parece estar aqui: " Escrutínio " por William F. Temple. Os viajantes espaciais da Terra não são colonos, eles são exploradores em busca de vida alienígena inteligente. Caso contrário, a história parece se encaixar:
While speaking, he was gazing out through a port—and the sudden and inexplicable happened: the outer door of the Module's airlock swung open. Yet there was nobody outside—nor inside—the airlock.
Bruce had also seen it. "That just can't happen," he said, also on the radio set.
"What can't? What's going on there?" the Captain called.
It was Leo who answered. "Maybe someone has come to meet us. If so, he's an invisible man. Could be all the townsfolk are invisible."
Next moment, the inner door of the airlock fell inward on them. They skipped back and it clanged on the floor. The pins of its hinges, which had somehow pulled out, rattled beside it. The denser air in the cabin swooshed out into the planetary atmosphere. Only their suits saved them from near-suffocation at best, death at worst.
[. . .]
The holding screws in the panel of the manual guidance console were spinning anticlockwise. They came clean out and floated loosely, as though weightless. Then the panel itself lifted away, trailing wires and transistors, which began to separate and become detached. It was as though a gang of expert but invisible troubleshooters had set to work to dismantle the apparatus. The thin atmosphere became thick with floating components, as though the Module were in a state of free fall. But it was still resting on the sandy soil and the two men were still captives of gravity.
But the Module seemed to be starting, piecemeal, an independent struggle against that gravity.
Floor bolts began popping like champagne corks. One section of the floor flapped open like a trapdoor.
Bruce exclaimed: "My God, they are invisible! They're wrecking us. Let's get out—quick."
Você pode dar uma olhada no sumário para ver se algum dos outros títulos tocam qualquer sino.
Atualização. O autor original, Rafael, descobriu que a história descrita na pergunta original é " O Planeta Morto " por Edmond Hamilton (publicado pela primeira vez em Startling Stories , Spring 1946 , disponível em Internet Archive ), também no The Random House Book de histórias de ficção científica entre outros lugares e on-line em Google Docs . Aqui está o final da história de Hamilton:
We looked at each other, we three tall bird-men of Rigel, as Dril handed us the glasses of pink sanqua. On Tharn's beaked face, in his green eyes, was an expression that told me we were all thinking of the same thing.
He raised the glass that he held in his talons.
"To that great dead race to whom our galaxy owes all," he said. "We will drink to their world by their own name for it. We will drink to Earth."