The World That Couldn't Be

Like every farmer on every planet, Duncan had to hunt down anything that damaged his crops—even though he was aware this was…

Duncan, a plantation owner on an alien world tracks the strange animal Cytha and gets a lesson in xeno-ecology.


Clifford Donald Simak (August 3, 1904 - April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo Awards and by colleagues with one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. This is one of his stories.