Murray F. Yaco 21 min read

Handed orders to haul potato fertilizer and tractor fuel, cocky co-pilot Banner and his crew think their talents are being wasted, never guessing that being unspecialized is exactly the point.

Murray F. Yaco's 1960 story is a wry social-SF space opera. Clever, fun golden-age SF. Read it for a genial story that champions the versatile generalist in a galaxy of narrow experts, where a seemingly menial assignment reveals the value of the all-rounder, in a light, well-turned golden-age piece with a satisfying vindication.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Kelly Freas