Robert Silverberg 19 min read

Dan Elliot grins at his reflection in a Venus City dive: after five years, the Space Needle II is finally his, until someone lurches against his back and spills his celebration drink.

Robert Silverberg's 1956 story opens on a hard-won triumph before its colonization and AI adventure unfolds. Fast, atmospheric golden-age SF. Read it for a rousing tale where a spacer's long-awaited new ship draws him toward the perilous lair of the dragonbird.

In its time

Published in 1956, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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