Nobody saw the Ship
A POWERFUL NOVELET
by Murray Leinster
It was only a tiny scout ship from somewherebeyond the stars; only one alien creature occupiedit. But the ship's mission spelled life to itsfellow creatures and death to all living creatureson Earth. And against the super-science of the raiderstood one terrified old man and his dog....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Future combined with Science Fiction Stories May-June 1950.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The landing of the Qul-En ship, a tiny craft no more than fifteen feetin diameter, went completely unnoticed, as its operator intended. Itwas armed, of course, but its purpose was not destruction. If thisship, whose entire crew consisted of one individual, were successfulin its mission then a great ship would come, wiping out the entirepopulation of cities before anyone suspected the danger.
A great ship would come, wiping out the entire population of cities before anyone suspected danger....
But this lone Qul-En was seeking a complex hormone substance whichQul-En medical science said theoretically must exist, but the moleculeof which even the Qul-En could not synthesize directly. Yet it had tobe found, in great quantity; once discovered, the problem of obtainingit would be taken up, with the resources of the whole race behind it.But first it had to be found.
The tiny ship assigned to explore the Solar System for the hormonewished to pass unnoticed. Its mission of discovery should beaccomplished in secrecy if possible. For one thing, the desired hormonewould be destroyed by contact with the typical Qul-En ray-gun beam, sothat normal methods of securing zoological specimens could not be used.
The ship winked into being in empty space, not far from Neptune. Itdrove for that chilly planet, hovered about it, and decided not toland. It sped inward toward the sun and touched briefly on Io, butfound no life there. It dropped into the atmosphere of Mars, and didnot rise again for a full week, but the vegetation on Mars is thin andthe animals mere degenerate survivors of once specialized forms. Theship came to Earth, hovered lightly at the atmosphere's very edge fora long time, and doubtless chose its point of descent for reasons thatseemed good to its occupant. Then it landed.
It actually touched Earth at night. There was no rocket-drive to callattention and by dawn it was well-concealed. Only one living creaturehad seen it land—a mountain-lion. Even so, by midday the skeleton ofthe lion was picked clean by buzzards, with ants tidying up after them.And the Qul-En in the ship was enormously pleased. The carcass, beforebeing abandoned to the buzzards, had been studied with an incrediblecompetence. The lion's nervous system—particularly the mass of tissuein the skull—unquestionably contained either the desired hormoneitself, or something so close to it that it could be modified and thehormone produced. It remained only to discover how large a supply ofthe precious material could be found on earth. It was not feasibleto destroy a group of animals—say, of the local civilized