"Skirmish (Bathe Your Bearings in Blood!)" (1950) by Clifford Simak

Originally published in the December 1950 issue of Amazing Stories under the rousing title Bathe Your Bearings in Blood!, always republished under the later and somewhat subtler — and rather more in keeping with the spirit of the story, it must be said — title of Skirmish, this striking account of one very average man’s struggle against machine-like aliens bent on rallying all of the world’s machines to their cause cannot fail to leave an unforgettable impression.

(6,900 words)

With the original Amazing Stories artwork by Leo Ramon Summers.

An e-book is available for downloading below.

Skirmish (e-book)