Jag kommer ihåg att läsa en novell för en tid sedan om en koloni eller utpost på en jordisk planet.
"Colony" av Philip K. Dick , ursprungligen publicerad i Galaxy Science Fiction, juni 1953 , tillgänglig på Internetarkiv .
Vissa människor gick förbi och forskarna upptäckte att de attackerades (och konsumeras) av någon form av varelse som övertygande kunde efterlikna vardagliga föremål. Så det var som The Thing , men det ersatte bara objekt, inte djur eller människor.
"We've got to be careful," Hall said. "We've got to watch for duplicates. Apparently it, whatever it is, imitates objects it finds. Like a chameleon. Camouflage."
"Two," Stella Morrison murmured, looking at the two vases of flowers, one at each end of her desk. "It's going to be hard to tell. Two towels, two vases, two chairs. There may be whole rows of things that are all right. All multiples legitimate except one."
En incident som jag kommer ihåg är ett par som simmer och denna organism efterliknade eller bytte ut sina kläder, så när de klädde det åt dem.
Gail climbed up on the bank, shaking water from her, throwing her hair back out of her eyes. The woods were silent. There was no sound except the lapping of the waves. They were a long way from the unit camp.
"When can I look?" Hendricks demanded, swimming around in a circle, his eyes shut.
"Soon." Gail made her way into the trees, until she came to the place where she had left her uniform. She could feel the warm sun glowing against her bare shoulders and arms. Sitting down in the grass, she picked up her tunic and leggings.
She brushed the leaves and bits of tree bark from her tunic and began to pull it over her head.
In the water, Corporal Hendricks waited patiently, continuing in his circle. Time passed. There was no sound. He opened his eyes. Gail was nowhere in sight.
"Gail?" he called.
It was very quiet.
"Gail?"
När människor på outposten förstod vad som hände skickade de en nödsignal och undviker i princip att röra någonting. I slutet går de alla (nakna) på räddningsfartyget.
The vidscreen clicked. A robot voice announced shrilly: "Everyone out of the buildings at once! Everyone out of the buildings and on the field without delay! Everyone out of the buildings at once! Everyone—"
"So soon?" Hall ran to the window and lifted the metal blind. "I didn't hear it land."
Parked in the center of the landing field was a long gray cruiser, its hull pitted and dented from meteoric strikes. It lay motionless. There was no sign of life about it.
A crowd of naked people was already moving hesitantly across the field toward it, blinking in the bright sunlight.
Twist-änden var det ...
At exactly 15:00 Captain Daniel Davis landed his ship in the center of the field. Relays slid the entrance lock open with a bang. Davis and the other officers of the ship sat waiting in the control cabin, around the big control table.
"Well," Captain Davis said, after a while, "where are they?"
The officers became uneasy. "Maybe something's wrong."
"Maybe the whole damn thing's a joke!"
They waited and waited.
But no one came.