H. B. Fyfe 17 min read

The problem is simply stated: the tentacled, mud-dwelling Zoya Lar-Tul must keep the nasty, aggressive little Earthmen from ever discovering the location of his home star.

H. B. Fyfe's 1951 story flips first contact around, viewing humanity as the dangerous unknown through alien eyes. Clever, wry golden-age SF. Read it for a genial story where cautious extraterrestrials scheme to keep pushy Earthmen at arm's length, with an ironic twist.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Raymond F. Houlihan