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what is the truth about the parasite and the Inhibition Death? Will other aliens deduce the truth and descend upon Earth to wipe out the Terran hosts? Will Rose be able to convince her colleagues at the Institute about the parasite, will they launch a research program, and can the parasite be isolated and destroyed? Is the parasite capable of directing human activities, and did it direct Drake's? And so forth. What the story loses in clarity, however, it gains in human resonances. Asimov did not write this kind of story often.
Astounding published the next Asimov story, "Breeds There a Man. . .?" (June 1951), which is related to "Hostess" in its lack of a definitive ending. A scientific genius working on a force field that could prevent the civilization-destroying effects of an atomic war fears that he will kill himself. He blames this urge to commit suicide on extraterrestrials who are using Earthmen for an experiment and do not want humanity to advance too far. Eventually, at the cost of his health and then his life, the scientist perfects the force shield, leaving unanswered the question of whether his ideas about extraterrestrial manipulation were correct.
Asimov's next story in Galaxy "C-Chute" (October 1951), was a response to the Korean War, as was "Breeds There a Man. . .?" Both dealt with alien threats to humanity. "C-Chute" also was a bit different from the usual Asimov story, focusing more on character, in this case a group of non-combatant strays in a spaceship captured by aliens. The Terrans quarrel about how to behave toward their captors and about the proper action to take in their circumstances. Finally, the least likely of the group, a precise, mild-mannered bookkeeper for a paper-box company, puts on a spacesuit and makes his way through the C-chute (used to dispose of battle casualties). He goes back through the steam cylinders that control the ship's attitude and into the chlorine-filled alien atmosphere in order to kill the two aliens and reclaim the ship.
"In a Good Cause," which Asimov wrote for the first anthology of original science fiction, Raymond J. Healy's New Tales of Space and Time (1951), was cited by Asimov as an example of how an author can sometimes write stories that advocate positions the author does not share. Two friends, Richard Altmayer and Geoffrey Stock, take different routes to meet a challenge of competition from herbivorous, communal aliens. Because the aliens have horns and exhale hydrogen sulfide, Earthmen have named them Diaboli. [Asimov's use of the Diaboli illustrates the dangers of influence-tracing. A scholar noting the similarity of the Diaboli to Arthur C. Clarke's Overlords in his 1953 novel Childhood's End might conclude that Clarke was inspired by Asimov. The

 
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