Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction January 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.
Containing a foe is sound military thinking—unlessit's carried out so literally that everybody becomes an innocentTrojan Horse!The Inhabited
By
RICHARD WILSON
Illustrated by ASHMAN
wo slitted green eyes loomed up directly in front of him. He plungedinto them immediately.
He had just made the voyage, naked through the dimension stratum, andhe scurried into the first available refuge, to hover there, gasping.
The word "he" does not strictly apply to the creature, for it had nosex, nor are the words "naked," "scurried," "hover" and "gasping"accurate at all. But there are no English words to describe properlywhat it was and how it moved, except in very general terms. There areno Asiatic, African or European words, though perhaps there aremathematical symbols. But, because this is not a technical paper, thesymbols have no place in it.
He was a sort of spy, a sort of fifth-columnist. He had some of thecharacteristics of a kamikaze pilot, too, because there was no tellingif he'd get back from his mission.
Hovering in his refuge and gasping for breath, so to speak, he triedto compose his thoughts after the terrifying journey and adjusthimself to his new environment, so he could get to work. His job, asfirst traveler to this new world, the Earth, was to learn if it weresuitable for habitation by his fellow beings back home. Their worldwas about ended and they had to move or die.
He was being discomfited, however, in his initial adjustment. Hisfirst stop in the new world—unfortunately, not only for his dignity,but for his equilibrium—had been in the mind of a cat.
t was his own fault, really. He and the others had decided that hisfirst in a series of temporary habitations should be in one of thelower order of animals. It was a matter of precaution—the mind wouldbe easy to control, if it came to a contest. Also, there would be lesschance of running into a mind-screen and being trapped or destroyed.
The cat had no mind-screen, of course; some might even have arguedthat she didn't have a mind, especially the human couple she livedwith. But whatever she did have was actively at work, feeling thesolid tree-branch under her claws and the leaves against which hertail switched and seeing the half-grown chickens below.
The chickens were scratching in the forbidden vegetable garden. Thecat, the runt of her litter and thus named Midge, often had beenchased out of the garden herself, but it was no sense of justice whichnow set her little gray behind to wriggling in preparation for herleap. It was mischief, pure and simple, which motivated her.
Midge leaped, and the visitor, who had made the journey betweendimensions without losing consciousness, blacked out.
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