This Immortal

3rd Ace printing. Cover Artist: Gray Morrow. This Immortal, serialized as & Call Me Conrad & originally editorially abridged, was published in two parts in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 10-11/65. It tied with Frank Herbert's Dune for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Devastated by atomic war, Earth's remaining 4,000,000 people are overrun by mutated lifeforms. Much is now owned by Vegans, blue-skinned aliens who see it as a tourist location. Narrator Conrad Nomikos is a man with a past he'd rather not talk about, given a job he'd rather refuse: to show an influential Vegan the ruins. He suddenly finds himself the Vegan's reluctant protector when attempts are made on its life. He finds himself pitted against a rebel group including old comrades. None understand why he'd protect one of Earth's subjugators. He's aided by other old friends. It's eventually revealed that the Vegan he escorts is charged with Earth's final disposition. The Vegan in his turn is confounded by Conrad. Ostensibly a tourist, he's horrified to find Conrad having Egypt's pyramids torn down, more so when the immortal explains that the process is being filmed so that the film run backwards will simulate their construction. At the end, however, the rebels realize Conrad has actually been fighting to protect Earth, making the Vegans see Earthlings would rather destroy the planet's riches than see them in others' hands.