Mightiest Qorn

The Qornt have conquered seventeen star systems and they have absolutely no patience for humanity. When they descend upon a forgettable human colony with their armada and their massive collective ego, they expect the usual: trembling submission, perhaps some tears. Instead, they get Ambassador Nitworth and his staff, who greet the alien invasion with the same procedural enthusiasm they bring to customs forms. The Qornt are baffled. These humans refuse to act like a proper conquered species. Keith Laumer's 1963 novella is a tart, funny sendup of diplomatic hubris and interplanetary arrogance. The Qornt are magnificent bullies, swaggering through the galaxy certain of their superiority, and watching them collide with human stubbornness disguised as courtesy is a genuine pleasure. There's a reason the Qornt come to respect exactly one human, and it isn't diplomacy. It's something more fundamental: the refusal to be intimidated by cosmic pomposity. For readers who like their science fiction with a wink and a sharp sense of how absurd all grand conflicts truly are.