The Eel

by Miriam Allen deFord

The punishment had to fit more than just the crime--it had to suit every world in the Galaxy!ExcerptHe was intimately and unfavorably known everywhere in the Galaxy, but with special virulence on eight planets in three different solar systems. He was eagerly sought on each; they all wanted to try him and punish him--in each case, by their own laws and customs. This had been going on for 26 terrestrial years, which means from minus ten to plus 280 in some of the others. The only place that didn't want him was Earth, his native planet, where he was too smart to operate--but, of course, the Galactic Police were looking for him there too, to deliver him to the authorities of the other planets in accordance with the Interplanetary Constitution.For all of those years, The Eel (which was his Earth moniker; elsewhere, he was known by names indicating equally squirmy and slimy life-forms) had been gayly going his way, known under a dozen different aliases, turning up suddenly here, there, everywhere, committing his gigantic depredations, and disappearing as quickly and silently when his latest enterprise had succeeded. He specialized in enormous, unprecedented thefts. It was said that he despised stealing anything under the value of 100 million terrestrial units, and most of his thefts were much larger than that.

Genres: Science Fiction

ebook

First published April 14, 2010

About the author

Miriam Allen deFord was a suffragette, feminist, and Fortean who became better known for her science-fiction, true crime, and mystery writing after the 1940s. Her short fiction has been widely anthologized; she also edited an anthology of stories mixing science fiction with mystery called Space, Time, and Crime.

She received the 1961 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in the category of Best Fact Crime book for The Overbury Affair, which involves events during the reign of James I of Britain.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

What does one do with the most slippery criminal known to the Galaxy when he is finally caught after 26 years? Which of the planets howling for his neck to stretch will get him? And what will happen at The Eel's trial on the planet which wins the right to punish him for the crimes he committed there?

This nifty little story was originally published in the April 1958 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine and is available free at Project Gutenberg here http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31981/...

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

5/20 21 mins. Part of LibriVox Audiobook “Short SF Collection Vol. 059”. Well narrated by Dale Grothmann. Having caught the super villain The Eel every world squabbles over the right to punish him. Fairly consistently amusing.