Children’s schooldays were requested, too, in such collecting drives as “Platinum Scrap for Procyon” and “Radioactive Debris for Deneb.” Housewives also were implored to save on salt whenever possible—this substance being useful to the Troxxt in literally dozens of incomprehensible ways—and colorful posters reminded: “Don’t salinate—sugarfy!”
Another story of cosmic horror, and a story about war. It’s also very funny, as I hope the quotation illustrates. After contact with ineffably powerful aliens, humans find their planet a battleground for cosmic conflict. Cosmic horror is characterized by powerlessness in the face of unknowable power; Tenn’s story foregrounds how a human society might cope with that powerlessness, while futility plays out in the background.
First published in Future Science Fiction in 1953. Collected in Immodest Proposals: The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, Volume 1, 2001
A Personal Anthology 