Roger D. Aycock 20 min read

The first Venusian ship to reach Earth finds only one isolated tribe of dark-skinned savages on a southern island, and a fair-skinned crew unable to find any kinship with them.

Roger D. Aycock's 1951 story is a haunting colonization and post-apocalyptic tale of Earth's forgotten legacy. Sharp, resonant golden-age SF. Read it for a story where visitors to a ruined Earth confront the buried truth of who its people once were, and who they've become.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Herman B. Vestal