Howard L. Myers 29 min read

A billion years ago, a sentient killing-weapon of the Zoz Horde malfunctioned and was left behind in the very solar system it had failed to destroy, until now, awakened, with qualms of conscience.

Howard L. Myers's 1952 story is a wry, inventive first-contact and space-opera comedy. Clever, funny golden-age SF. Read it for a genial tale where an ancient, all-powerful war-machine with a troublesome conscience is drawn into the schemes of a would-be galactic conqueror, and proves a most reluctant weapon.

In its time

Published in 1952, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Ed Emshwiller