Youth

Two young boys find some very unusual new pets in this short story from a Grand Master of Science Fiction.

Tagging along while his astronomer father visits an industrialist at his vast estate, young Slim is lucky enough to make fast friends with the industrialist’s son, Red, who has recently caught some very strange animals on the property. The animals seem intelligent enough, and Red recruits Slim to help him train the odd creatures to do circus tricks. But the boys are about to discover their playthings aren’t exactly animals — and they’ve allowed themselves to be caught for a reason...

Youth is a riveting tale from the author of countless classics, including I, Robot and the Foundation trilogy which won the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series. Youth first appeared in the May 1952 issue of Space Science Fiction and was reprinted in the 1955 collection The Martian Way and Other Stories. Youth is one of the rare Asimov stories with alien characters.