
Transcriber's Note:
In a cramped New York apartment, a seasoned professor finds himself suddenly surrounded by a squad of uniformed agents from the Union Bureau of Investigation. Their mission: to press him for details about a mysterious encounter he had four years earlier with a member of an alien civilization. The dialogue crackles with sarcasm and tension as the professor—equal parts cynical scholar and reluctant witness—pushes back against the agents’ blunt intrusion.
Through witty repartee and sharp observations, the scene unfolds into a broader question about humanity’s place in a universe that is beginning to reveal itself. As the agents try to extract every fragment of knowledge, the professor’s reluctant cooperation hints at larger stakes for the whole species, while the story hints at a network of interstellar politics and ethical dilemmas that will soon surface. The opening sets a tone of smart, off‑beat suspense that promises both intellectual intrigue and a satirical look at bureaucratic overreach.
Language
en
Duration
~49 minutes (47K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2009-12-31
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1927–1987
A prolific mid-century science fiction and fantasy writer, he became especially well known for the Lord Darcy stories, where detective fiction meets an alternate world shaped by magic. He also wrote heavily for the pulp magazines of the 1950s and 1960s and collaborated with other major SF writers.
View all books
by Randall Garrett

by Randall Garrett

by Randall Garrett

by Randall Garrett

by Randall Garrett, Laurence M. Janifer

by Randall Garrett

by Randall Garrett, Laurence M. Janifer

by Randall Garrett