This volume collects three early science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. "Piper in the Woods" (1953): Earth maintained an important garrison on Asteroid Y-3. Now suddenly it was imperiled with a biological impossibility -- men becoming plants! "The Gun" (1953): Nothing moved or stirred. Everything was silent, dead. Only the gun showed signs of life ... and the trespassers had wrecked that for all time. The return journey to pick up the treasure would be a cinch ... they smiled. "The Skull" (1953): Conger agreed to kill a stranger he had never seen. But he would make no mistakes because he had the stranger's skull under his arm.