(Cover Artwork: Juan Ford.
"The Golden Mile",
Courtesy of
Dianne Tanzer Gallery)
Editor(s): Rob Gerrand
Publisher: Black Inc. (Australia)
ISBN: 1-86395-301-9
Publication Date: 2004
The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing - A Fifty Year Collection 2004
Short Story
Here is a challenge-to-the-Reader story, a stimulating puzzle for you to solve: How could you prove to a wholly alien life-form that you are a rational being? To the survivors of the wrecked spaceship Lode Star it was a challenge of a more vital sort - a riddle of life or death. I doubt if any reader will soon forget Mr. Chandler's pointed answer.