Michael Shaara 47 min read

A Mapping Command ship guides old 29 down to a new world, where the only thing that matters is coming in second, any kind of second, come hell or high water.

Michael Shaara's 1956 story opens on a tense atmospheric descent driven by a mysterious imperative to arrive second, building an intriguing time-travel puzzle. Taut, well-crafted golden-age SF. Read it for a gripping tale whose strange central rule keeps you guessing all the way down.

In its time

Published in 1956, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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