Biology in Science Fiction: Free Stories

Title: The Native Soil

Author: Alan E. Nourse

Length: short story

First Publication: Fantastic Universe, 1957

What the Story is About:

There was enough mud on Venus to go all the way around twice, with some left over. It was warm, wet, soggy mud—clinging and tenacious. In some places it was gray, and in other places it was black. Elsewhere it was found to be varying shades of brown, yellow, green, blue and purple. But just the same, it was still mud. The sparse Venusian vegetation grew up out of it; the small Venusian natives lived down in it; the steam rose from it and the rain fell on it, and that, it seemed, was that. The planet of mystery was no longer mysterious. It was just messy. People didn’t talk about it any more.

But technologists of the Piper Pharmaceuticals, Inc., R&D squad found a certain charm in the Venusian mud.

(Science-wise, I find the story more believable if I mentally substitute “unknown pharmaceutical” for  tetracycline)

Categories: 1950-1959 • Aliens & Monsters • Anatomy & Physiology • Nourse - Alan E. • Short Fiction