Robert Sheckley 32 min read

Pid the Pilot brings his ship down toward the innocent-looking green planet where twenty Grom invasion parties have vanished without a word, his crew's one iron rule of war firmly in mind.

Robert Sheckley's 1953 story is a witty, inventive first-contact tale of shape-shifting alien invaders and human temptation. Clever, funny golden-age SF from a master. Read it for a delightful story where the deadliest threat to a race of shape-changers turns out to be the appeal of holding a single form.

In its time

Published in 1953, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Vidmer