The Talking Stone
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The Talking Stone is a science fiction mystery short story by Isaac Asimov which first appeared in the October 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and was reprinted in the 1968 collection Asimov's Mysteries.
Larry Verdansky, a repair technician assigned alone on Station Five is interested in siliconies, the silicon based life forms found in the asteroids which grow to a maximum size of two inches by absorbing gamma rays from radioactive ores. Some siliconies are telepathic. When the space freighter Robert Q appears at the station with a siliconey a foot in diameter, Verdansky deduces that the freighter had found an incredibly rich source of uranium. Verdansky contacts the authorities, but before a patrol ship can reach her, the Robert Q is hit by a meteor, killing the three human crew members. When questioned, the dying silicony says that the coordinates of the uranium asteroid are written on "the asteroid". Dr. Wendell Urth deduces that the silicony meant that the coordinates were actually engraved on the Robert Q, disguised as serial and registration numbers, since the silicony thought the ship was an asteroid, i.e. a small body orbiting the sun, the definition it picked up from an ancient astronomy book it had been read by the ship's crew.
| Asimov's Mysteries |
| The Singing Bell | The Talking Stone | What's in a Name? | The Dying Night | Pâté de Foie Gras | The Dust of Death | A Loint of Paw | I'm in Marsport Without Hilda | Marooned Off Vesta | Anniversary | Obituary | Star Light | The Key | The Billiard Ball |
