Joseph Samachson 22 min read

Hurrying from the air liner into the Star Building, George Everson is recognized in the dusk by a fierce, hate-filled crowd who scream one word after him: traitor.

Joseph Samachson's 1950 story opens on a hated man under guard, building a tense first-contact and military-SF tale. Sharp, atmospheric golden-age SF. Read it for a story that starts with a public branded a traitor and slowly reveals what he really did, and why.

In its time

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

Reading it

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