Science Fiction of the 50's

A. Bertram Chandler is an Australian ship captain who has written excellent adventure science fiction for more than thirty years. He is best known for his Rim World series. But Chandler is also a very thoughful writer, interested in the cultures of those beings who inhabit the edge of his fictional galaxy.
One of the best examples is this fine story which asks a number of important questions: what is it that constitutes human behaviour as distinct from non-human behaviour? What constitutes rational behaviour? The humans in this story find themselves in an interesting and dangerous predicament-they must convince those with superior (or perhaps just different) intelligence that they are rational creatures. In their efforts to accomplish this difficult task they find that the culture which produced them is more helpful than the technological manifestations of that culture. And in overcoming the dilemma that faces them the protagonists give us an important lesson about ourselves, our penal system, and our culture.