"The Possessed" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1953. The concept for the story was suggested by Mike Wilson.

Plot summary

A swarm of disembodied

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

, whose home world was destroyed, are in search of an animal species which they can inhabit and guide to intelligence. While many, the swarm operates as a single being. They wander the cosmos and growing weary, find a reptilian species that appeared promising but were not as evolved as the swarm would prefer. The swarm debates leaving the planet and continuing the search or leaving a portion of itself behind. It is decided that it would be wise to leave part of the swarm on the planet, where it can watch the hosts evolve until they are ready to properly guide. The rest will continue to travel and will return if they found a better potential home. Each year the swarm-possessed hosts will travel to a certain location on the planet's surface in search of the swarm's return. As much time passes the location sinks into the ocean, however the hosts continue to seek this location out. They continue to guide the hosts' evolution, going from small reptiles to tiny furry beasts that produce live young. During this evolution the swarm portion realizes that they chose their hosts poorly, as their intelligence only diminishes rather than grow, but can do nothing as their strength grows increasingly weaker and they lose parts of their memory. The pilgrimage now becomes a point of desperation, as they hope to get reabsorbed by the main swarm and regain what they have lost. Time continues to progress until all that is left of the swarm is the urge to travel to the set location. The story then cuts to modern day, where a man and woman are taking a trip on a pleasure steamer. The woman notices a group of animals gathered on the shore of a nearby island and wonders why they exhibit such strange behaviors. The man replies that the reason is unknown before guiding his partner inside. As the steamer leaves, the

lemmings A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...

on the beach continue their migration into the ocean despite having no memory or idea as to why.

Publication history

"The Possessed" was first published in the March 1953 issue of ''

Dynamic Science Fiction ''Dynamic Science Fiction'' was an American pulp magazine which published six issues from December 1952 to January 1954. It was a companion to ''Future Science Fiction'', and like that magazine was edited by Robert W. Lowndes and published by C ...

''. The year is occasionally incorrectly listed as 1952. It was subsequently published in the collection ''

Reach for Tomorrow ''Reach for Tomorrow'' is a 1956 collection of science fiction short stories by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. All the stories originally appeared in a number of different publications. Contents This collection includes: *"Preface" *"Rescue P ...

'' in 1956 as well as in collections and anthologies such as ''

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke ''The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke'', first published in 2001, is a collection of almost all science fiction short stories written by Arthur C. Clarke. It includes 114 stories, arranged in order of publication, from " Travel by Wire ...

'' and ''

More Than One Universe ''More Than One Universe: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by Arthur C. Clarke originally published in 1991. The stories originally appeared in the periodicals ''Playboy'', ''V ...

.'' The story has been published in multiple languages that include French, German, and Serbian.

Themes

Themes in "The Possessed" include alien visitors and evolution. John Hollow has noted that the story's ending is a nod to the potential for humanity to de-evolve into a similar state.

Reception

"The Possessed" has received some criticism over its depiction of lemmings as suicidal, as the animal's jump into water is for migratory purposes rather than self-destruction.

References

External links