Bryce Walton 51 min read

You're a killer, Ray Berton, but a sane one. Those we fight are insane, and they'll destroy humanity. We have power but cannot use it to destroy. So we'll give the power to you.

Bryce Walton's 1950 story opens on a chilling recruitment, launching a post-apocalyptic social-SF tale where salvation requires a man willing to kill. Sharp, morally charged golden-age SF. Read it for a gripping story about the terrible instrument a desperate cause decides it needs.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Virgil Finlay