Robert Silverberg 13 min read

A volunteer dons the thought-helmet and glides out of his own body to look inside the mind of a bound, snarling alien, with half an hour before rescue.

Robert Silverberg's 1958 story sends Dane Harrell on a psionic reconnaissance into a hostile alien consciousness, a countdown ticking. Tense, inventive psi-powered SF with a strong hook. Read it for a gripping golden-age tale of one man exploring an enemy mind from the inside.

In its time

Published in 1958, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

13 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

Becker