Randall Garrett Robert Silverberg 14 min read

A peaceful future society has no answer to Lugert, a violent throwback terrorizing them all, until a councilman proposes reaching back to the crime-ridden past for the one thing they need: a killer.

Garrett and Silverberg's 1957 story builds a sharp social-SF tale around gentle people who must import savagery to survive. Clever, provocative golden-age SF. Read it for a story that asks what a civilization too refined for violence can do when violence comes calling.

In its time

Published in 1957, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Becker