This volume contains seventeen of Hal Clement's stories. They range from near-future earth to the distant Magellanic Cloud. Their protagonists are tachyonic aliens and teen-aged humans, retired explorers and beings so vast and slow that they don't even notice mankind, criminals, pirates and teachers. Hal Clement's stories, like his novels, show that the natural world contains wonders and possibilities which hardly require any additional invention-yet he supplies it, creating stories which turn on scientific puzzles or which lead us to look at old notions in a new light.