Estou tentando encontrar uma curta história em SciFi
"Metamorfosito" por Eric Frank Russell .
Provavelmente publicado nos anos 60 ou 70.
Publicado pela primeira vez em Astounding Science-Fiction , dezembro de 1946 , que está disponível no Arquivo da Internet . Reimpresso várias vezes ao longo dos anos; qualquer uma das essas capas parecem familiares?
Provavelmente < 10 páginas.
"Metamorfosite" é uma novela de 50 a 60 páginas. Você descreveu a última parte da história, onde os terráqueos são levados ao Conselho de Ação.
Como posso lembrar, a história se passa em uma sala onde um painel de meia dúzia de membros não-humanos do "Império Galáctico" (ou algo assim - provavelmente não muito bem)A maioria do Conselho é humano. (No entanto, devo salientar que há duas espécies humanas na história. Por um lado, há as pessoas do recém-descoberto planeta "atrasado", que se chamam de terrestres e seu planeta Terra; são terrestres que têm transformado em super-homens, o nosso personagem do ponto de vista Harold Harold-Myra é um deles. Por outro lado, há humanos normais como nós que governam o Império, descendentes de pessoas que deixaram a Terra antes da mutação.) Aqui está uma descrição do Conselho. :
The Council looked small. Its strength a mere eight, all but two of them human. They sat at a long table, the six humans in the middle, a nonhuman at each end. The thing on the extreme right had a head like a purple globe, smooth, shining, hairless, possessing no features except a pair of retractable eyes. Below was a cloaked shapelessness suggesting no shoulders and no arms. It was as repulsive as the sample on the left was beautiful. The one on the left had a flat, circular, golden face surrounded by golden petals, large and glossy. The head was supported by a short, fibrous green neck from the knot of which depended long, delicate arms terminating in five tentacles. Two black-knobbed stamens jutted from the face, and a wide, mobile mouth was visible beneath them. It was lovely, like a flower.
estão prestes a convidar um planeta "retrógrado" (Terra) que foi recentemente descoberto pelo Império Galáctico para se juntar ao Império.
A intenção original era incorporar Terra ao Império, mas neste ponto da história o Conselho está decidindo se destruirá o planeta:
"We, of the Imperial Council of Action, have decided that the safety of the Empire demands that we obliterate the planet known to us as KX-724 together with any adjacent planets, satellites or asteroids harboring its dominant life form. We are now met to consider this life form's final plea for preservation, and it is the duty of each of us to listen carefully to what new evidence may be offered, weighing it not with favor or with prejudice, but with justice."
Os membros do painel sentam-se em fila atrás de uma barreira "impermeável" semelhante a vidro.
Existe um tipo de barreira, mas não é semelhante a vidro:
Between this table and the staring captives hung a barrier of wire. Harold, Burt and George could see that it was loaded, and their perceptions examined it gingerly. They diagnosed its purpose simultaneously: it bore an alternating current imposed upon a pulsing potential. Two hundred cycles per second, with a minimum pressure of four thousand volts rising to peak points of seven thousand every tenth cycle.
Hypnocast jammer! reported Burt. He was puzzled. "But that doesn't blank neural sprays. They're different bands. Can you hear what they're thinking?"
"Not a thing," answered Harold. "Neither could I get your thoughts while you were speaking."
"I've lost contact too," put in George. "Something which isn't that screen is droning out a bass beat note that makes a mess of the telepathic band."
Sniffing with distaste, Melor said, "This is where I come in. I know what's the matter. There's a Drane in the room. He's doing it."
Há um pouco de descrição de vários (IIRC) dos membros do painel e seus ecossistemas necessários (por exemplo, acho que se está nadando em uma esfera de algum líquido; há um ser semelhante a um réptil).
Essa parte não corresponde. Os alienígenas em "Metamorfose" não têm suporte vital óbvio, e os únicos seres répteis presentes são Melor (amigo não-humano dos terrestres) e Drane:
Mental visualization, Harold realized, had proved correct with regard to shape and appearance but had misled him in the matter of size. He'd taken it for granted that a Drane possessed bulk comparable with his own. But this creature was no larger than his fist. Its very smallness shocked him.
It was lizardlike, but not so completely as first appeared, and now that he could see it closely, its tiny but perfect uniform looked absurd. While they regarded it, the thing sat there and stared at them with eyes like pin points of flaming crimson, and as it stared the strange beat note disappeared, a psychic flood poured through the screen and lapped around their minds.
Dois representantes - humanos - do planeta atrasado são admitidos na sala.
Não dois, mas três representantes da Terra: Harold, Burt e George.
Eles então mudam. A criatura reptiliana começa a se pôr ao sol. Pois os representantes se metamorfosearam em seres de pura energia de luz brilhante e deslumbrante.
Essa é a parte da sua descrição que me lembrou de "Metamorfose"; mas é a criatura da flor, não um reptiliano, que se aquece à luz do sol:
The three Terrestrials made no reply. Their minds were in complete accord and their response was simultaneous.
Dykstra sobbed, "Look! Oh, eternity, look!" then sank to his knees and began to gabble. The purple creature withdrew its eyes right into its head so tht it could not see. Burkinshaw's hand came away from the switch; his glasses fell to the floor and lay there, shattered, unheeded. Roka and Helman and the other humans on the Council covered their faces with their hands which slowly took on a tropical tan.
Only the Floran came upright. It arose to full height, its golden petals completely extended, its greenish arms trembling with ecstasy.
All flowers love the sun.