The room was quiet; the man in front of the mirror was the only living thing there, and he was too horrified to utter a sound.

In the mirror, five faces stared back at him: one young and ruddy, which was his own, and four that did not belong in that place at all, for they were all wrinkled, malevolent, small as crabapples and as blue as smoke.

So begins Damon Knight's "Be My Guest", a story of the human race possessed by things that were - well, not exactly demons... but not exactly not demons either.

It's just one of the unpredictably imaginative tales in this fascinating collection by a modern master of science-fiction.

© Damon Knight 1965

Cover and illustrations by Jack Gaughan.

THE SPY BENEATH THE SKIN

The fate of the Earth Empire hung in the balance - and Security Commissioner Spangler knew it was up to him to find the monster, the Rithian Terror, as come called it. Seven Rithians had landed on Earth. Six had been disposed of. One was loose.

Sure, Spangler reasoned, the stereotopic fluoroscope would flush it out. "That's one test the Rithian can't meet, no matter how good his human disguise may be." Spangler explained to Pembun, the strange, little Colonial who had been sent to find the monster.

But Pembun didn't agree. "The trouble," he said, "is that the Rithians have no bones. Which would be indication enough under the fluoroscope, if it weren't for the fact that it can easily swallow a skeleton."

Spangler shuddered.

© Damon Knight 1965