000 02430cam a22003733u 4500
001 71918
003 UtSlPG
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040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aPS
100 1 _aSilverberg, Robert,
_d1935-
245 1 4 _aThe overlord's thumb
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2023
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
490 1 _aProduced from Infinity March 1958
500 _aRelease date is 2023-10-20
508 _aGreg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
520 _a"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.)
534 _pOriginally published:
_cNew York, NY: Royal Publications, Inc., 1957
653 _aScience fiction
653 _aShort stories
653 _aHuman-alien encounters -- Fiction
653 _aLife on other planets -- Fiction
700 1 _aBowman, Bill
830 0 _aProduced from Infinity March 1958
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71918
999 _c112644
_d112644