Editor(s): Groff Conklin
Publisher: Gold Medal (USA)
Edition: d1366
Publication Date: 1963
12 Great Classics of Science Fiction 1963
(Written As By Bertram Chandler)
Short Story
How does one define a "rational" - or intelligent - being? This story - about people who are captured by a superior alien species and must prove their rationality in order to free themselves - is a brilliant commentary on one way of defining a species as rational. For the superior aliens conclude that "only rational beings in cages."