Three stories from Poul Anderson's 1950s imagination, each a sharp blade cutting into different facets of human nature. The title novella drops us onto a lunarshell where warlords rule Coper City, and outlaw chief Rikard is offered freedom in exchange for assassination. But as he digs into the History of Earth, he discovers something that threatens the warlords more than any bullet could. "Catalysis" offers a sly metaphor: humanity is a turtle, carrying its shell everywhere it goes, and the shell is full of familiar human failings. Then comes "Missionaries," a vicious satire about aliens who arrive on Earth to convert us to Mechaniolatry worship of machines, and the horror (or is it delight?) of finding humans enthusiastically embracing a new god. Anderson was a Grand Master for good reason: these stories don't just imagine the future, they hold a mirror to the present with wit, edge, and genuine spine.
