"Kära Pen Pal" aka "Letter From the Stars", en kort historia av A. E. van Vogt , först publicerad i Arkham Sampler , Vinter 1949 ; Reprinten i Nebula Science Fiction , nummer 1, oktober 1952 är tillgängligt på Internetarkiv . Den här populära historien har kommit upp på denna sida, här och här .
Sammanfattning från Wikipedia :
The one-sided dialog takes the form of correspondence from Skander, an alien, to an unnamed human whose replies are not presented. Skander spends some time in the first letters describing his home planet of Aurigae II, a hot planet circling a star in Auriga. Later, Skander admits that he is a criminal, incarcerated for conducting illegal scientific experiments. Desiring to see his pen pal, he sends several photographic sheets that can be exposed if the user simply thinks about a picture being taken.
The last letter is from the unnamed human back to Skander. The human is now in Skander's body. He realized long ago that Skander was trying to scam him, and immediately took the "photographs" to the Earth authorities. They informed him they were a form of consciousness transfer device that Skander was attempting to use to escape from prison. Learning this, the human went through with the process anyway.
He hopes that Skander will enjoy the short time that he has left, trapped in a dying wheelchair-bound body.
