Poul Anderson 1 hr 9 min read

No conqueror wants his subjects to revolt, obviously. Yet this alien overlord, surgically remade to pass as a big Earthling, will go to any length to start a rebellion.

Poul Anderson's 1951 story is a clever military and first-contact tale of a disguised alien agent with a paradoxical mission. Sharp, ingenious golden-age SF. Read it for a twisty story about an occupier who desperately wants his own conquered people to rise up, and why.

In its time

Published in 1951, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

1 hr 9 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).

Illustrated by

David Stone