technical difficulties and emerge from their planet to wage war on humanity. The story illustrates a tension between the theoretical ("Scientific") attitude and the practical ("Technical") one, exemplified by the prominent scientist claiming that his theory shows the force-field technology to be impossible ("That's final! That's final!"), and mirrored by the technician's account of his methods, and by the story's title. Development "Not Final!" is one of Asimov's early short stories, written at the end of his third year writing stories for science fiction magazines. After selling "Nightfall" in late April 1941, Asimov took a break from writing to study for qualifying examinations to enter the PhD program in chemistry at Columbia University. He failed the exams, and, very disheartened by this, did not return to writing until 24 May, when he began to work on "Not Final!". Asimov submitted "Not Final!" to John W. Campbell on 2 June, and it was accepted on 6 June, but without a bonus. It was published in the October 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and later included in the collection of his early short stories The Early Asimov (1972). Asimov wrote a sequel, "Victory Unintentional", in 1942. These two stories are some of the few written by Asimov to include the idea of extra-terrestrial intelligence in our solar system. References External links "Not Final!" on the Internet Archive Short stories by Isaac Asimov 1941 short stories Fiction set on Ganymede (moon) Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact