História de ficção científica: alienígenas erroneamente deixam bebê humano com inteligência "brinquedo"?
"Anel de dentição" , conto de James Causey ; Publicado pela primeira vez em Galaxy Science Fiction , janeiro de 1953 , disponível no Arquivo da Internet ; reimpresso em várias antologias, algumas delas mostradas aqui ; etext em Projeto Gutenberg , em LibriVox .
Os alienígenas erroneamente deixam um "cubo" de inteligência ou um brinquedo com um bebê humano
"I know just the thing," Porteous said happily. "Here." He dipped into the glittering litter on the tray and handed Harry Junior a translucent prism. "A neural distorter. We use it to train regressives on Rigel Two. It might be of assistance."
Melinda eyed the thing doubtfully. Harry Junior was peering into the shifting crystal depths with a somewhat strained expression.
"Speeds up the neural flow," explained the little man proudly. "Helps tap the unused eighty per cent. The pre-symptomatic memory is unaffected, due to automatic cerebral lapse in case of overload. I'm afraid it won't do much more than cube his present IQ, and an intelligent idiot is still an idiot, but—"
e depois percebem que eles categorizaram mal a Terra e que nenhum humano deveria ter esse cubo. Eles voltam em breve e pegam o cubo de volta,
"Major Nord, Galactic Security." The little man bowed. "You were visited early this morning by one Porteous." He spoke the name with a certain disgust. "He left a neural distorter here. Correct?"
Melinda's nod was tremulous. Major Nord came quietly into the living room, shut the door behind him. "My apologies, madam, for the intrusion. Porteous mistook your world for a Class IV culture, instead of a Class VII. Here—" He handed her the crumpled dollar bill. "You may check the serial number. The distorter, please."
e o bebê, agora hiperinteligente, em seus furos de berço, incapaz de mudar o fato de que agora ele vai levar anos - oito anos? dez? quinze? - para controlar toda a terra.
Harry Junior was sobbing bitterly into his pillow. He was sick with disappointment. Even the most favorable extrapolation showed it would take him nineteen years to become master of the world.
An eternity. Nineteen years!