H. B. Fyfe 32 min read

An unobtrusive, tired-looking man in a maroon suit and mismatched socks steps off the Centaur Queen and takes an inconspicuous place at the back of the travel-agency line, precisely as he intends.

H. B. Fyfe's 1960 story is a wry social-SF and space-opera tale of an unremarkable man on a most particular journey. Clever, understated golden-age SF. Read it for a genial story where a deliberately forgettable traveler moves quietly toward his true, unexpected destination.

In its time

Published in 1960, during the 1960s, new wave revolutionizes the genre.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Wallace Wood