Arthur Dekker Savage 22 min read

A general introduces a trim lieutenant and a clean-cut major who already know each other intimately from photographs and files, two strangers meeting at last in the shadow of a rocket.

Arthur Dekker Savage's 1954 story opens on a charged first meeting before a launch, building a wry social-SF tale. Sharp, well-observed golden-age SF. Read it for a story where two people who've studied each other from afar finally come face to face, on the eve of something momentous.

In its time

Published in 1954, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Ed Emshwiller