Kort historia om en människa som trotsar utlänningar som säger att han ska återvända till sin planet
"Upstart" , en kort novell (cirka tre sidor) av Steven Utley ; först publicerad i The Magazine of Fantasy och Science Fiction , februari 1977 , tillgänglig på Internetarkiv .
De två är på uppdrag att utforska förbi sitt solsystem, och de möts och styrs av ett främmande fartyg. Berättelsen börjar inuti fartyget, där de informeras av slavarna till de självutnämnda universitetsmästarna eller något i den riktningen att de inte får resa genom rymden och måste återvända till sin planet och berätta för mänskligheten aldrig våga ut igen.
The Sreen have been very arbitrary and high-handed from the start, snatching our vessel out of normal space, scooping it up and stuffing it into the maw of their own craft, establishing communication with us through their Intermediaries, then issuing their incredible edict. They do not appear to care that they have interfered with Humankind's grandest endeavor. Our vessel is Terra's first bona fide starship, in which the captain and I were to have accelerated through normal space to light-velocity, activated the tardyon-tachyon conversion system and popped back into normal space in the neighborhood of Alpha Centauri.
Kaptenen spottar på detta och berättar löjtnanten att om de inte kommer tillbaka, kommer mänskligheten att fortsätta att skicka människor till stjärnorna, så det spelar ingen roll om de inte kommer tillbaka.
Kaptenen tvingar sedan sin väg förbi slavarna och brister sig in i mästarnas stora kammare och ropar någonting djärvt."If we don't make it home from this," I say at length, "if they never hear from us back on Earth, never know what became of their starship—"
"They'll just keep tossing men and women at the stars until someone does come back. Sreen or no Sreen." The captain strikes the door again, with the edge of his fist this time. "Sreen!" A bellow which, curiously, does not echo in the vast antechamber. "*Sreen! SREEN!"
"Oh my God," I whisper to the captain, "oh, oh my God."
They are titans, they are the true and indisputable masters of the universe, the lords of creation, and they are unhappy with us. They speak, and theirs is a voice that shatters mountains. "WHO ARE YOU?"
The captain's lips draw back over his teeth in a mirthless grin as he plants his fists on his hips, throws back his head, thrusts oiut his jaw. "Who wants to know?"