The Silverberg, Robert 1935- creator Bowman, Bill text utu 2023 monographic en 1 online resource : multiple file formats "The Overlord's Thumb" by Robert Silverberg is a science fiction novella written in the late 1950s. The story centers around Colonel John Devall, the head of a Terran cultural and military mission on the alien planet Markin. The novella explores themes of cultural interaction and the moral dilemmas faced by a superior civilization in its dealings with less advanced societies. The narrative follows Colonel Devall as he grapples with a serious incident: his nephew, Lieutenant Paul Leonards, accidentally kills an alien while on a botanical expedition. The alien society demands that Leonards be handed over for trial, not merely for murder, but for blasphemy against their sacred laws, complicating the situation. Devall is faced with a challenging choice – to assert Earth's dominance by protecting his nephew or to respect the alien culture by allowing them to conduct their trial. Ultimately, he opts to hand over Leonards, leading to an unexpected twist when the trial reveals a ritualistic method of proving innocence. The outcome reinforces the theme of equality among intelligent life and leaves Devall contemplating the implications of their actions on future missions. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Release date is 2023-10-20 Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Originally published: New York, NY: Royal Publications, Inc., 1957 Science fiction Short stories Human-alien encounters -- Fiction Life on other planets -- Fiction PS New York, NY: Royal Publications, Inc., 1957 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71918 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71918 UtSlPG 260607 20260610134649.0 71918