Project Gutenberg 2008-01-14 Public domain in the USA. 84 Nourse, Alan Edward 1928 1992 Edwards, Al Nourse, Alan E. (Alan Edward) The Native Soil Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "The Native Soil" by Alan Edward Nourse is a science fiction novella written in the mid-20th century. Set on Venus, the narrative examines the challenges faced by a corporation, Piper Pharmaceuticals, Inc., as it attempts to exploit the planet’s unique and mysterious resources. The central theme revolves around the misunderstandings and mishaps that arise between human colonizers and the native Venusian inhabitants while uncovering the true potential of the planet's mud. In the story, Robert Kielland, a special investigator for Piper Pharmaceuticals, arrives on Venus to evaluate a struggling research installation that has encountered unexpected difficulties in extracting valuable resources from the planet's lush and clinging mud. The Venusian natives, known for their playful and seemingly unintelligent nature, are initially viewed by the Earthmen as a hindrance to their objectives. However, as Kielland navigates through the series of logistical failures and absurd incidents involving the natives and their unique knowledge of the environment, he gradually realizes that the Mud-pups are not as simple as they appear. The narrative culminates in a revelation about the natives' actual intelligence and their connection to the very resources the humans seek, leading to a reconsideration of the exploitation strategy in favor of a more mutually beneficial arrangement. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories Human-alien encounters -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 69100 69109 2024-09-10T10:52:37.128995 2023-09-11T04:21:26.767607 text/html text/html 65700 2021-01-03T06:43:05 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 25628 2021-01-03T06:43:05 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 75895 2024-09-10T10:52:40.439979 application/epub+zip 75463 2024-09-10T10:52:38.338985 application/epub+zip 75463 2024-09-10T10:52:37.568989 application/epub+zip 176115 2024-09-10T10:52:41.998974 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 169381 2024-09-10T10:52:39.965002 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 169608 2022-09-11T09:14:01.844332 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 62670 62569 2024-09-10T10:52:36.904999 2023-09-11T04:21:26.571612 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 62552 2021-01-03T06:43:05 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 24537 2021-01-03T06:43:05 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19114 2024-09-10T10:52:42.297983 application/rdf+xml 14240 2024-09-10T10:52:37.914015 image/jpeg 3641 2024-09-10T10:52:37.736005 image/jpeg 78562 2024-09-10T10:52:37.136003 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia