The Crystal Crypt is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in the January 1954 edition of Planet Stories and later published in Beyond Lies the Wub in 1988.
The Crystal Crypt is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in the January 1954 edition of Planet Stories and later published in Beyond Lies the Wub in 1988.
The story is set in the distant future where Earth and Mars on the verge of war. The last spaceship to leave Mars headed for Earth is suddenly stopped by Martian soldiers, looking for three saboteurs who destroyed a Martian city. They don't find them, and the ship continues towards Earth. On board the space ship, a business man by the name of Thacher meets a young woman and two men, who tell that they're in fact the people the Martians are looking for, and proceed to tell Thacher the story of how they did it, how they didn't destroy the Martian city, but used a device to reduce the entire city to fit in a tiny globe, which they smuggled on board the ship. The city was to be used as a bargain chip against Mars in the upcoming war, but at the end, Thacher reveals that he's in fact a Martian secret agent, and several of the passengers on board are Martian police.
