Holderness' editorial error cost him his
job—but it also created a serious problem for
K-17. As an invader had he walked into a trap?
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
November 1954
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Mr. Young came bounding into the office of Atomic Science Stories,waving a copy of the first issue in his hand. He stopped at the desk ofthe editor, Art Holderness.
"Holderness," he roared, his chins quivering, "you're fired!"
Holderness looked up in surprise. "Why?" he asked.
"Look at this contents page!"
Holderness looked at it. "What's the matter with it?"
"Don't you see anything wrong?"
"No. What shouldn't be there?"
"There isn't anything shouldn't be there, you idiot. There's somethingmissing!"
"What?"
"Our announcement that the characters and situations in these storiesbear no resemblance to actual persons living or dead."
"Oh."
"Is that all you have to say? Think of the libel suits! We'll beruined. I don't know why I let myself be talked into adding a sciencefiction book anyway. Holderness, you're fired."
"But Mr. Young—"
"You have no idea the trouble we can get into leaving that announcementoff. Get out of this office!"
K-17 removed a copy of Atomic Science Stories from the newsstand andwent up to his hotel room. He sat down to read it.
He had been attracted by the picture of the space ship on the cover,because it reminded him very much of the one in which he had cometo Earth from Rigel IV. And then, when he looked closer at it, hediscovered that the four-tentacled purple creatures in the ship lookednot a little like his fellow Rigelians.
This made him homesick, and so, in direct defiance of the orders he hadreceived from his superiors, he pulled down the shades and turned offthe gadget that set up the hypnotic field around him. Once more he wasfour-tentacled and purple, instead of two-armed and pink, and it feltgood.
He began to read through the stories. The first of them concerned aninvader from another planet who was on Earth disguised as a man.
Good Vog! K-17 thought to himself. They're on to us.
He looked over the story again. They had some of the details wrong,of course, such as saying that the Rigelians—whom they called theCapellans, for some strange reason—had mouths like octopi, whereasactually they had no mouths at all. But on the whole it was acircumstantial and convincing account of the capture of a Rigelian spy.
The story had taken place in Philadelphia. That meant they had M-22.This was serious. He picked up his magneto-oscillophone and called thehome base on the other side of the moon.
"This is K-17," he reported. "I have just read in a Terran publicationdetails of the capture of M-22."
"Impossible!" the voice snorted in his auditory nerve. "We have beenreceiving regular reports from M-22."
"They must have replaced him with a human spy," K-17 mused.
"Good Vog! Do you really think so?"
"It's the only explanation."
"Good work, K-17. We'll be on our guard."
K-17 hung up and sat down again to read further. The next story dealtwith an Earth landing on Mars.
But Earthmen hadn't landed on Mars.
Or had they?
This situation was becoming complicated. K-17 thought over all thepossibilities. Was it possible that this magaz