Kris Neville 42 min read

Why shouldn't a culture mimic another right down to the last little detail? Because the last detail may be just that, the final one.

Kris Neville's 1957 story spins a clever first-contact and social-SF tale from the perils of imitation, framed by a jittery hyperspace jump. Sharp, ironic golden-age SF. Read it for a witty story where copying an alien culture too perfectly leads to a very pointed final surprise.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Dick Francis