Randall Garrett 36 min read

Leland Hale is undoubtedly the cleverest crook in the universe, but how could even he crack a closely guarded time capsule, across a million parsecs and half a century of pursuit?

Randall Garrett's 1958 story is a witty social-SF and space-opera caper starring a suave interstellar rogue. Fun, clever golden-age SF. Read it for a genial heist tale where a brilliant, ruthless scoundrel sets his sights on the ultimate theft, respectfully so.

In its time

Published in 1958, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

John Schoenherr