"Early Bird" is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short story written in 1973 by Theodore R. Cogswell and Theodore L. Thomas. The story was first published in '' Astounding: The John W Campbell Memorial Anthology''. It takes place within the same universe as Cogswell's 1952 novel '' The Spectre General'' and features the character Major Kurt Dixon of the Imperial Space Marines.

Synopsis

After the Marines have defeated the Galactic Protectorate, the Empire's

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

routes start being invaded by the Kierans. The Kierans are an alien race that use ships equipped with a seemingly invincible weapon that clouds the brains of the crew of the ships that try to follow them.

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Kurt Dixon is given command of a scout patrol that follows a Kieran ship to its home base, but he is "fogged" and left unconscious. Dixon's ship is equipped with an experimental

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

that generates a cybernetic personality to support him on long lonely space patrols. The computer, known as ''Zelda'', manages to land the ship on an uncharted

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

, inhabited by huge organo-metallic creatures that prey on each other with awesome weaponry and computerised defences. Whilst the ship is disabled on the planet, it becomes a part of a

mating In biology, mating is the pairing of either opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for the purposes of sexual reproduction. ''Fertilization'' is the fusion of two gametes. '' Copulation'' is the union of the sex organs of two sexually repr ...

process between two of these creatures. The 'sperm' of one creature homes in on the 'egg' laid by another creature. As part of a 'selection of the fittest' process, Dixon and his ship are modified, acquiring vastly improved mental and physical powers. Dixon discovers that he can now out-manoeuvre the Kierans. He realises that the entire patrol fleet can do the same thing; the newly improved fleet then proceeds to defeat the Kierans.

External links

*{{ISFDB title, id=81635 1973 short stories American short stories Science fiction short stories