Gateway to Strangers-Jack Vance novelette
Gateway to Strangers - Jack Vance novelette AKA: Dust of Far Suns and Sail 25 (author’s preferred title) Gateways to Strangers is a 29 page novelette that was first published in August, 1962 in the magazine Amazing Stories. It has also been known as "Sail 25" and "Dust of Far Suns." Henry Bent is an irritable, unpleasant, overly sensitive, dictatorial character who seems to be "a man of a different species." He teaches pilots to operate spaceships, in this instance it is one that has a huge sail (thus the title "Sail 25"). Bent tells his cadet crew that he does not expect to be liked and that if they do like him then he has failed because, "I haven't pushed you hard enough." All pilots know Bent and respect his skills, but they also invariably dislike him. He has trained almost every well-known pilot and is about to train a new crew. During the training flight when Bent is not drunk or hiding from the others, he is ...