The Enemy (short story)
Encyclopedia
"The Enemy" is a science fiction
short story written by Damon Knight
. It first appeared in the January 1958 issue of Venture magazine and has been reprinted twice, in Far Out
(1961) and The Best of Damon Knight (1976).
since a war with humans in the distant past. The creature starts building what appears to be a spaceship; Zael destroys it. Both Zael and the alien realize that they will die of exposure. They begin to return to Zael's bubble house, helping each other across the fissures. Just before reaching the dome, the alien pierces Zael's space suit and leaves her to die. Her last vision is of the alien escaping from the planetoid in her escape pod.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story written by Damon Knight
Damon Knight
Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
. It first appeared in the January 1958 issue of Venture magazine and has been reprinted twice, in Far Out
Far Out (book)
Far Out is a collection of 13 science fiction short stories by Damon Knight. The stories were originally published between 1949 and 1960 in Galaxy Magazine, If Science Fiction and other science fiction magazines...
(1961) and The Best of Damon Knight (1976).
Synopsis
Fifteen-year-old Zael, who was born in space, is left alone on a planetoid to begin mining operations. She belongs to a culture that centuries ago was driven from the Earth. While charting mineral deposits, Zael discovers an alien who has been held inert, presumably for thousands of years, in a metal globe. Zael accidentally causes the globe to open and the alien emerges, upsetting her tractor. Zael realizes that the creature is hostile, and speculates that it has been in suspended animationSuspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
since a war with humans in the distant past. The creature starts building what appears to be a spaceship; Zael destroys it. Both Zael and the alien realize that they will die of exposure. They begin to return to Zael's bubble house, helping each other across the fissures. Just before reaching the dome, the alien pierces Zael's space suit and leaves her to die. Her last vision is of the alien escaping from the planetoid in her escape pod.
Background
About this story, Knight wrote
"The Enemy" is one of two stories that I wrote when I was having some eye trouble and thought I might go blind...Just think, if I had been born blind, I might have written a lot more like this.