Shah Guido G.

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Shah Guido G. is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1951 issue of Marvel and reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories. It is an example of a shaggy dog story, as indicated by the title ("Shahgui Dog").

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Shah Guido G. is the nickname of Guido Garshthavastra, the hereditary Secretary-General of the United Nations ("Sekjen"), a tyrant who rules the Earth from a levitating island called Atlantis. Philo Plat is an aristocrat who secretly plots Shah Guido G.'s downfall. When he learns that the stations that power the Sky-Island's anti-gravitational beams are close to critical, Plat convinces Shah Guido G. to order in a division of Waves (female shock-troops whose name derives from the WAVES of the United States Navy) to put down a supposed rebellion by the technicians. As Plat suspected, the weight of the Waves' cruisers is sufficient to overload the Sky-Island's power generators, causing it to plummet to the ground; once again, Atlantis sinks beneath the Waves.


Buy Jupiter and Other Stories
Darwinian Pool Room | Day of the Hunters | Shah Guido G. | Button, Button | The Monkey's Finger | Everest | The Pause | Let's Not | Each an Explorer | Blank! | Does a Bee Care? | Silly Asses | Buy Jupiter | A Statue for Father | Rain, Rain, Go Away | Founding Father | Exile to Hell | Key Item | The Proper Study | 2430 A.D. | The Greatest Asset | Take a Match | Thiotimoline to the Stars | Light Verse