Testing

Testing by Jr. Sam Merwin is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It centers on the discovery of a small human colony on a supposedly uninhabited planet chosen for a planet-destroying weapons test, raising urgent ethical and political dilemmas. A sidelined military pilot, Echelon Leader Hannibal Pryor, surveys Rigel IV ahead of a “planet-buster” demonstration and is stunned to find a remote human settlement, Leith on Nevis, led by a wise patriarch known as the Dominie. The colony holds an ancient, valid charter that should halt the test, but Pryor’s delay—and the fleet’s ruthless move to destroy his ship—prevent timely communication. Working overnight with the Dominie, he manages to alert Interstellar Control, yet the superweapon is already inbound. Accepting their likely doom, the Dominie hopes their sacrifice will expose the illegal test and avert a wider interstellar war, while Pryor, chastened and admiring, stands with the villagers as the end approaches. (This is an automatically generated summary.)