Agent of Vega

Agent of Vega is a science fiction novel by James H. Schmitz, 1960. Like the Foundation series, it is a collection of stories that originally appeared separately in magazines. It was republished in 2001 as Agent of Vega & Other Stories.

The tale began in 1949 as a longish short story published in the SF magazine Astounding. In 1960 it appeared as a book, along with three loosely related stories set in the same time and context: The Illusionists; The Truth About Cushgar; The Second Night of Summer.

In the far future, humans are building a 'Confederacy of Vega' to replace the original fallen Empire of Earth. The new empire includes some mutated humans and also some non-humans. Enemies are also a mix of humans and aliens and it is very much space opera, featuring Vega's 'zone agents'. Combat involves both physical weapons and telepathic attacks. It clearly owes a lot to E. E. Smith's Lensman series.

Unlike the six Lensman books, the four stories are only loosely connected. Each features a completely different set of enemies. The non-human telepath Pagadan is the main connecting link, appearing a secondary character in the first story, the main character in The Illusionists and makes a brief appearance in The Truth About Cushgar.

The book is currently available as Agent of Vega & Other Stories. This consists of the original four stories plus The Custodians; Gone Fishing; The Beacon to Elsewhere; The End of the Line; Watch the Sky; Greenface; Rogue Psi. None of these are set in the same universe as the Vega tales.