Vital Ingredient by Charles V. De Vet
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"Vital Ingredient" by Charles V. De Vet is a science fiction short story written in the early 1950s. The narrative centers around a group of extraterrestrial explorers who encounter a native creature on a planet with a low-gravity environment. Their exploration takes a poignant turn when they inadvertently alter the native's body structure, leading to unforeseen consequences regarding its survival in its own environment. The story features a character named Orville Pollnow,
who is transformed by the explorers into a being with enhanced physical capabilities, yet it tragically results in his demise due to an inability to consume enough sustenance to support his new form. The dialogue among the explorers grapples with moral and ethical concerns about their interference with a primitive species, as they debate whether they should enhance Orville's capabilities for the greater good of his civilization. Ultimately, their well-intentioned actions become a cautionary tale about the unexpected ramifications of meddling with the natural evolution of life. The narrative explores themes of responsibility, the complexities of intervention, and what it means to truly help another being. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | De Vet, Charles V., 1911-1997 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Martin, Bob |
| Title | Vital Ingredient |
| Series Title | Produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction July 1952. |
| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 74.8 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 30491 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-30491-5 |
| Release Date | Nov 17, 2009 |
| Last Update | Oct 24, 2024 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 554 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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