Project Gutenberg 2010-01-07 Public domain in the USA. 137 Brown, Rosel George 1926 1967 Varga, Mel Step IV Step 4 Step Four Produced from Amazing Stories June 1960. Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Step IV" by Rosel George Brown is a science fiction short story originally published in Amazing Stories in the early 1960s. This narrative explores themes of power, gender dynamics, and the complexities of human (and alien) interactions through a suspenseful and poignant lens. The story revolves around Juba, a woman from a society of parthenogenetic women, who encounters a Terran spaceman and grapples with her feelings towards him while navigating the rules and expectations of her society. In the story, Juba initially approaches her interaction with the spaceman as a seduction, intending to manipulate him for the safety of her people. However, her perception of him shifts as she engages in conversation, reflecting on the nature of men and their inherent violence according to her mother's teachings. As the narrative unfolds, Juba battles her burgeoning feelings for the man, confronting notions of pride, power, and her identity. Ultimately, the encounter spirals into tragedy, as betrayal leads to a devastating conclusion, wherein Juba's pride and the weight of her choices culminate in her heartbreaking sacrifice, leaving the implications of her decision lingering in the air. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 92.6 (5th grade). Very easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Man-woman relationships -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 54077 2025-08-12T14:08:32.529522 text/html 50522 2010-01-07T06:18:12 text/html 149422 2025-08-12T14:08:36.298487 application/epub+zip 148224 2025-08-12T14:08:34.179501 application/epub+zip 83066 2025-08-12T14:08:33.048510 application/epub+zip 204989 2025-08-12T14:08:37.934535 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 198042 2025-08-12T14:08:35.724489 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 111030 2022-09-14T08:56:20.314825 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 47729 2025-08-12T14:08:32.242522 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 47636 2010-01-07T06:18:12 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19312 2025-08-12T14:08:38.068476 application/rdf+xml 9214 2025-08-12T14:08:33.579492 image/jpeg 2577 2025-08-12T14:08:33.330557 image/jpeg 82037 2010-01-07T06:18:12 application/octet-stream application/zip 18301 2010-01-07T06:18:12 application/octet-stream application/zip 144714 2025-08-12T14:08:32.543537 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia