YASID: r-selected alien resurrecters bite off more than they can chew
- From: Johnny Tindalos <JamaisVu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 14:53:10 -0500
Hello Rasfwolk,
I'm trying to remember another short story that I read collected in the
early 80s in what was almost certainly a volume a few decades older; from
the tone I'm guessing the story was written pre-1960s.
It went something like this: aliens turn up in orbit around a deserted
Earth, dotted with partially ruined cities; Humanity is missing. The
alien in charge of the investigative team (from whose POV the story is
told) comes across a museum (the Smithsonian?) which contains fossils and
mummies, and uses advanced technology to resurrect some of them, in an
attempt to find out what became of the Earth's dominant species. The
first two resurrected, IIRC (I was only 10 when I read this) are a
caveman/barbarian warrior (who rants confusedly a bit before being
destroyed) and then I think a priest from a later era, who again is
destroyed by the aliens due to providing no useful info. They then
resurrect a more modern human, who talks to them and explains what some
of the machinery in the museum does, claiming that one nearby machine is
for counting atoms. He lied: upon realising that the aliens have come to
use the Earth as a breeding world and intend to kill him, he manages to
escape and use the "atom-counting" machine as a weapon and slays several
of the aliens with it before they get him.
The next corpse they resurrect is from a much more advanced time. He
quickly learns about the aliens' purposes, and when they aim their
weapons at him, simply disappears. Panicked, they return to orbit and
drop a nuke on the city. It fails to detonate.
Then he appears on their ship...
The reason I want to read this again is because of a thought the main
viewpoint alien has, recalling all the broodworlds his endlessly-
expanding race has taken, with their inhabitants slain apart from a few
ragged remnants driven in the wilderness, and the guilty fear that haunts
his species because of this.
Any help gratefully appreciated!
Sincerely,
Johnny T.
.
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