The Sword

"The Sword" by Frank Quattrocchi is a science fiction tale from the 1950s that tells of an unexpected visit from the Races of Wan, an alien civilization, who give humanity a strange task: fix what they claim is a broken sword. The story follows engineer George Harrison, who gets pulled away from his vacation to help figure out the cryptic message from these aliens. The Races of Wan, who have seen humanity's warlike ways, want humans to rebuild this sword and give it back in just three days. As Harrison and his team work hard to understand what the aliens really want, Harrison has a breakthrough while listening to a street preacher. He realizes that the sword actually represents humanity's violent side, and that the real challenge is changing the sword into something that stands for peace and improvement. In the thrilling ending, Harrison rushes to present a solution that shows how humankind needs to change its weapons into ways to build up its societies, suggesting that true progress is really about how civilized and mature a society becomes.