"If Only He Had Kept the Knife . . ."

"Star Light!"

By Isaac Asimov (1920-92; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; Asimov Online HERE).

First appearance: "First published in the magazine Scientific American, October 1962." (ISFDb).

Today's text: As reprinted in Asimov's Mysteries (1968).

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "A knife was still the best, just as quick as a molecular depolarizer, just as fatal, and much more quiet."

TOLKEIN assures us, "Not all who wander are lost." Tell that to Trent . . .

Principal characters:

~ Arthur Trent ("Sounds too complicated") and Old Brennmeyer ("It can't miss").

Typo: "centered about" (should be "on").

Comment: No doubt there was intentional irony in Lyn Venable's story title about punishment fitting the crime, and we surmise that Asimov was thinking along those 

lines, too.

References and resources:

- "Jump through hyperspace":

  "The 2007 Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction lists the following terms related to the concept of space drive: gravity drive, hyperdrive, ion drive, jump drive, overdrive, ramscoop (a synonym for ram-jet), reaction drive, stargate, ultradrive, warp drive and torchdrive. Several of these terms are entirely fictitious or are based on 'rubber science', while others are based on real scientific theories. Many fictitious means of travelling through space, in particular, faster than light travel, tend to go against the current understanding of physics, in particular, the theory of relativity."

  As for that jump through hyperspace: "[A jump drive] teleports ships instantaneously from one point to another. The concept of 'jumps' between stars was popularized by Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, which debuted in 1942. The term 'jump drive' was used in Harry Harrison's Ethical Engineer (1963)." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "every star of spectral class of F, B, A, and O":

  Stars of spectral classes F and G (i.e., the Sun) are favored as likely candidates for having habitable planets:

  "In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the rainbow of colors interspersed with spectral lines. Each line indicates a particular chemical element or molecule, with the line strength indicating the abundance of that element. The strengths of the different spectral lines vary mainly due to the temperature of the photosphere, although in some cases there are true abundance differences. The spectral class of a star is a short code primarily summarizing the ionization state, giving an objective measure of the photosphere's temperature. . . .

  "Most stars are currently classified under the Morgan–Keenan (MK) system using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K, and M, a sequence from the hottest (O type) to the coolest (M type). Each letter class is then subdivided using a numeric digit with 0 being hottest and 9 being coolest (e.g., A8, A9, F0, and F1 form a sequence from hotter to cooler)." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a molecular depolarizer":

  If the polarity of the molecules in someone's body is suddenly reduced to zero, the results probably won't be pleasant:

  "Usage of the term 'depolarization' in biology differs from its use in physics, where it refers to situations in which any form of polarity (i.e., the presence of any electrical charge, whether positive or negative) changes to a value of zero." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a nova":

  A star that sheds some of its mass explosively; not to be confused with a supernova, which blows itself to smithereens:

  "Novae most often occur in the sky along the path of the Milky Way, especially near the observed Galactic Center in Sagittarius; however, they can appear anywhere in the sky. They occur far more frequently than galactic supernovae, averaging about ten per year in the Milky Way. . . . Astronomers have estimated that the Milky Way experiences roughly 25 to 75 novae per year. The number of novae actually observed in the Milky Way each year is much lower, about 10, probably because distant novae are obscured by gas and dust absorption." (Wikipedia HERE.)

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~