Roger D. Aycock 40 min read

The bustling spaceport declarations mart falls church-silent when Blaster Bill Bailey walks in, because under his arm, in a wire cage, rides a Mimasan smiley, radiating peace and brotherhood.

Roger D. Aycock's 1953 story spins colorful first-contact and psi comedy from an alien creature that broadcasts euphoria. Fun, vivid golden-age SF. Read it for a genial tale where a little beast's aura of universal good will turns a rough spaceport, and much else, delightfully upside down.

In its time

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

Reading it

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