Anything You Can Do

In Short

A heavily damaged starship crashes to Earth, leaving its lone alien survivor, a Nipe, stranded among humanity. To survive and rebuild his vessel, the Nipe wages a precise, years-long campaign of theft and high-tech plunder across the globe. Terrified by his hyper-reflexes and lethal efficiency, human authorities realize standard forces cannot stop him. Scientists take a crippled man and rebuild his nervous system and muscular structure to match the alien's monstrous abilities. The result is a suspenseful sci-fi duel of biological engineering and tactical cunning fought in the shadows of a futuristic Earth.

The Story

The narrative begins with an alien vessel limping through space. Damaged and dying, the starship brings its single passenger—a Nipe—to Earth. The Nipe is a member of an ancient, hyper-competent species defined by absolute self-reliance, rigid taboos, and an absolute reliance on individual prowess. Killing a hunter on horseback shortly after landing, the Nipe notes with faint contempt the extreme slowness and physical frailty of human beings. Stranded far from his home civilization, he sets out to gather the advanced technology and raw materials necessary to repair his ship and signal his people.

Over the next six years, the Nipe becomes Earth's most elusive nightmare. Operating from a hidden lair inside the collapsed, flooded transit tunnels beneath Manhattan's wilderness sanctuary, he launches meticulous raids across the globe. He loots scientific laboratories, steals specialized radioactives, guts advanced electronics, and even hijack entire aircraft. Human weapons prove virtually useless against his phase-shifting defense devices and blinding, lightning-fast physical reactions.

To combat this crisis, World Police commander Colonel Walther Mannheim establishes a secret project alongside biophysicists and psychologists. They determine that the alien’s mind contains invaluable scientific knowledge that humanity cannot afford to destroy prematurely, yet the Nipe is far too dangerous to leave unchecked. Their solution is an ambitious experiment: take a human being and rebuild him from the inside out.

The subject chosen for this transformation is Bart Stanton. Through intensive physical modifications, neuro-glandular enhancements, and rigorous retraining, the project staff accelerates Stanton’s reflexes, strength, and sensory perception until he can match the Nipe's terrifying speed. However, Stanton suffers from fragmented memories and an unsettling sense of personal isolation. While undergoing grueling conditioning, he discovers news of a famed asteroid detective named Stanley Martin, whose face is identical to his own.

When Colonel Mannheim deliberately allows himself to be killed by the Nipe to protect secret data channels, the crisis reaches its boiling point. Stanley Martin returns to Earth to assume leadership of the project, working closely with scientific advisors while Stanton prepares for the final assault. Equipped with specialized gear and directed by remote surveillance, Stanton tracks the alien deep into the dark subterranean ruins beneath Manhattan.

In the underground darkness, Stanton engages the alien in a brutal, high-speed battle. Leveraging his enhanced physiology, Stanton overcomes the Nipe's alien weaponry and physical defenses, ultimately subduing the creature. Following the victory, Stanton meets face-to-face with Stanley Martin. The two men reveal the hidden truth behind Stanton's missing identity: they are identical twin brothers who once shared an intense telepathic bond. The mental link was intentionally broken through deep hypnosis so Bart could be rebuilt without psychological interference. With the Nipe captured and the mission accomplished, the brothers' telepathic connection locks back into place, restoring their shared identity while preserving their individual minds.

How It Unfolds

The alien arrives A damaged starship crashes on Earth, leaving a lone alien survivor to assess the planet. Finding humans fragile and impossibly slow, he begins scavenging high-technology parts to rebuild his ship.

The plunder campaign Over six years, the alien strikes research facilities and military installations across the globe. He steals rare elements, demolishes concrete structures, and eludes every attempt at capture.

The weapon engineered Scientists and World Police commanders realize normal human soldiers are outmatched by the alien's reflexes. They begin biologically modifying Bart Stanton, rebuilding his nerves and muscles to match the alien's physical capabilities.

The shattered identity While enduring relentless physical tests, Stanton notices gaps in his memory and a haunting sense of duality. He discovers a news report showing an asteroid detective, Stanley Martin, who shares his exact face.

The sacrifice in Government City Colonel Mannheim permits the alien to attack him directly, ordering guards to hold their fire so the alien's behavior can be recorded. Mannheim dies, but provides the project with vital combat data.

The descent into darkness Equipped with enhanced senses and tactical gear, Stanton enters the abandoned subway tunnels beneath Manhattan's game sanctuary. He stalks the alien through the flooded, ruined corridors to his hidden lair.

The clash of titans Stanton confronts the alien in his underground stronghold, fighting at speeds imperceptible to normal human eyes. Relying on his modified physiology, Stanton survives the alien's weaponry and subdues him.

The brothers unified Stanton returns to the surface and meets Stanley Martin, discovering they are identical twins separated to facilitate his physical recovery. Their dormant telepathic bond re-establishes itself, unifying their minds in victory.

The People

• The Nipe: A lone alien survivor stranded on Earth. He wants only to harvest the technical components needed to repair his vessel and return to his home culture. Bound by strict cultural taboos and possessing instantaneous physical reflexes, he views humans as fragile, slow creatures, killing without malice whenever his mission demands it.
• Bart Stanton: A man rebuilt by advanced biophysics to serve as humanity's ultimate fighter. He wants to overcome his physical limits and uncover the truth behind his fractured memories. Through painful surgery and relentless physical conditioning, he transforms from a bedridden patient into a warrior capable of matching the Nipe in hand-to-hand combat.
• Stanley Martin: A sharp, successful private investigator operating in the Asteroid Belt who is later revealed to be Bart's identical twin brother. He wants to support the covert police initiative while protecting his brother's psychological independence. He manages high-stakes investigations off-world before taking over leadership of the Earth project.
• Colonel Walther Mannheim: The head of the World Police initiative tasked with handling the alien crisis. He wants to preserve the advanced scientific knowledge inside the alien's mind at all costs. Coldly pragmatic, he sacrifices his own life to gather critical behavioral data on the alien predator.
• Dr. George Yoritomo: A brilliant project psychologist who analyzes the alien's alien mindset and guides Bart's mental preparation. He seeks to understand the alien's non-human logic, using his insights to prepare Bart for the psychological pressure of the final battle.

In Its Own Voice

"The internal damage that had been done to the ship was far more serious than the burn on the surface of the hull. It was that internal damage which occupied the thoughts of the Nipe, for it could, quite possibly, kill him."

The opening scene establishes the alien's desperate situation and cold, analytical drive to survive far from home.

"He hadn't yet tried for any of the radioactives except radium. He'd taken a full ounce of that in five raids, but hadn't attempted to get his hands on uranium, thorium, plutonium, or any of the other elements normally associated with atomic energy."

The narrative details the strange, deliberate pattern of high-tech thefts that mystify human security forces.

"All I ever get is just exercise. All the fun has gone out of it."

Bart Stanton expresses his growing frustration to a therapist as his biological enhancements isolate him from ordinary human competition.

What It's Really About

At its core, the novel examines the nature of competitive supremacy and what it means to push the human body to its absolute limits. By pitting a biologically engineered man against a naturally formidable alien predator, the story asks whether artificial modification can bridge the vast evolutionary gap between species.

It also explores the burden of psychological isolation. Both the Nipe and Bart Stanton operate in profound solitude: the alien is stranded on an alien world whose inhabitants he cannot comprehend, while Stanton is separated from normal humanity by his superhuman capabilities and fractured identity. The subplots involving identical twins and telepathic links extend this theme, arguing that true strength requires not merely physical perfection, but psychological unity and deep human connection.

Why Read It Today

This novel offers an entertaining, fast-paced dive into classic 1960s science fiction, blending hard procedural investigation with bio-engineering concepts. Readers who enjoy tactical cat-and-mouse games, hyper-competent protagonists, and early speculative ideas about human augmentation will find plenty to appreciate.

The prose is spare, functional, and direct, moving briskly between high-tech laboratory settings, outer-space asteroid mines, and ruined subterranean cities. The alien Nipe stands out as a memorable antagonist—his perspective is rendered with a cool, dispassionate logic that makes him feel genuinely non-human rather than merely monstrous.

Modern readers should be prepared for the distinct stylistic markers of mid-century pulp fiction. The dialogue can be melodramatic, the military hierarchy operates with rigid fifties-era decorum, and the telepathic twin subplot relies on narrative conceits popular in golden-age magazine fiction. Furthermore, the world-building assumes a future dominated by Cold War geopolitical dynamics and heavy industrial asteroid mining. For those who appreciate procedural suspense and bio-futuristic duels, the book remains a tight, engaging entry in classic American science fiction.