The Course of Logic

"The Course of Logic" by Lester Del Rey is a science fiction novella written in the early 1960s. The story explores themes of evolution, intelligence, and survival through the lens of alien creatures known as silths. As the narrative unfolds, the silths, who have lost their original form and major capabilities, interact with human beings, leading to reflections on logic, gender roles, and the nature of intelligence. The story centers around two silths, Arnek and his female mate Ptarra, who have survived centuries after escaping a destroyed universe. They discover a crashed probe and two human survivors, leading them to consider infiltrating the humans' bodies to continue their existence. As the silths track the humans and plan their next moves, discussions of evolution and logic emerge, revealing Ptarra's cold reasoning versus Arnek's more intuitive approach. Ultimately, they succeed in taking over the humans' forms, raising questions about identity and the potential for a new beginning in an unfamiliar galaxy. The narrative deftly interweaves action, mental conflict, and philosophical discourse, examining what it means to truly understand another being. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Lester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the fantasy editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of Ballantine Books, subsequently Random House, working for his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey’s imprint, Del Rey.