Project Gutenberg 2010-06-05 Public domain in the USA. 82 Quattrocchi, Frank Beecham, Tom 1926 2000 Beecham, Thomas A. The Sword Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "The Sword" by Frank Quattrocchi is a science fiction novella written during the early 1950s. The story revolves around humanity's encounter with an alien race known as the Races of Wan, who arrive unexpectedly and present a mysterious challenge involving the construction of a sword. This narrative takes readers on a journey that explores themes of technology, morality, and humanity's readiness for interaction with advanced civilizations. In the plot, George Harrison, an engineer, is summoned back from his vacation to decode an enigmatic message from the Races of Wan. The aliens, after observing humanity's violent tendencies, demand that humanity construct a sword and return it within three days, claiming that it is defective. As Harrison and his team struggle to understand the true requirements behind this challenge, he is struck by a profound insight while listening to a street preacher. This leads to a realization that the sword is a symbol of humanity's violent nature and that the task is not merely to create a weapon but to transform it into something peaceful and constructive. The climax unfolds when Harrison runs to present a solution, embodying the idea that civilization must learn to turn weapons into tools of prosperity, ultimately highlighting the concept that true progress is measured by cultural maturity. (This is an automatically generated summary.) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32697/32697-h/images/cover.jpg en Science fiction Short stories Extraterrestrial beings -- Fiction Human-alien encounters -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 52236 52246 2024-09-14T04:14:51.361025 2023-09-14T09:11:31.611835 text/html text/html 48869 2021-01-06T16:43:32 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 166888 2021-01-06T16:43:32 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 176280 2024-09-14T04:14:53.698009 application/epub+zip 175320 2024-09-14T04:14:52.064020 application/epub+zip 82216 2024-09-14T04:14:51.605027 application/epub+zip 211570 2024-09-14T04:14:55.064026 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 204119 2024-09-14T04:14:53.433034 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 111306 2022-09-15T05:53:14.996398 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 43811 43715 2024-09-14T04:14:51.189022 2023-09-14T09:11:31.447857 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 43685 2021-01-06T16:43:32 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16977 2021-01-06T16:43:32 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19136 2024-09-14T04:14:55.201006 application/rdf+xml 20506 2024-09-14T04:14:51.673080 image/jpeg 4246 2024-09-14T04:14:51.639062 image/jpeg 167920 2024-09-14T04:14:51.373033 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog