Jr. L. J. Stecher 31 min read

A stark-naked claims adjuster teleports into the snow of a frozen colony world to settle an insurance case that isn't what it seems.

L. J. Stecher's 1961 story is filed as the deadpan oral report of adjuster Mark Atkinson, who arrives unclothed and unbothered in thirty-below cold to a relieved expedition manager and a puzzle worthy of Interstellar Insurance. Dryly funny bureaucratic SF with a tidy, satisfying resolution. Read it for wry golden-age problem-solving from an unflappable interstellar troubleshooter.

In its time

Published in 1961, during the 1960s, new wave revolutionizes the genre.

Reading it

31 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).

Illustrated by

Bob Ritter