The Missing Disclaimer

An omitted legal disclaimer in a new science-fiction magazine causes an editor to be accused of negligence and sparks trouble for an undercover alien living on Earth. The alien, seeing magazine art and a story that resembles his people and their activities, briefly resumes his true form and worries that the publication has exposed his presence. He contacts his home base as the situation escalates, and the tale uses comic irony to examine editorial slipups, mistaken identities, and the absurd lengths institutions and individuals go to avoid perceived liability or scandal.