Project Gutenberg 2015-05-05 Public domain in the USA. 151 Aycock, Roger D. 1914 2004 Dee, Roger Starr, John Barberis Rough Beast Produced from Analog March 1962. Produced by Greg Weeks, Carolyn Jablonski and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Rough Beast" by Roger D. Aycock is a science fiction novella written in the early 1960s. The story explores a harrowing encounter between an alien creature, the Morid, that escapes from a Galactic Federation ship and crash-lands on Earth. As the narrative unfolds, it examines themes of intelligence, survival, and the consequences of human and extraneous alien interactions. The plot centers around the Morid's arrival on a secluded key in the Florida Keys and its instinctual hunt for prey, which introduces chaos into the unsuspecting environment. Characters like Ellis, a Telethink operator, and the hermit Charlie Trask find themselves embroiled in a desperate attempt to survive as the Federation scrambles to understand and contain the escaped creature. Unknown to them, the Morid is merely a tiny and ruthless predator compared to their human size. As the story reaches its climax, unexpected turns reveal the true nature of the beings involved, emphasizing the relativity of size and power in the universe, culminating in a humorous yet poignant realization of humanity's place within a vast cosmic hierarchy. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 73.8 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Extraterrestrial beings -- Fiction Human-alien encounters -- Fiction Florida -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 54304 2025-06-19T14:44:41.960064 text/html 30079 2024-10-24T17:22:56 text/html 210356 2025-06-19T14:44:44.219106 application/epub+zip 209146 2025-06-19T14:44:42.496086 application/epub+zip 74450 2025-06-19T14:44:42.224045 application/epub+zip 242099 2025-06-19T14:44:45.739042 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 234121 2025-06-19T14:44:43.910129 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 99663 2022-09-22T07:33:42.751390 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 44354 2025-06-19T14:44:41.690071 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 24614 2024-10-24T17:22:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17914 2025-06-19T14:44:45.898036 application/rdf+xml 15753 2025-06-19T14:44:42.298052 image/jpeg 1849 2025-06-19T14:44:42.262045 image/jpeg 203207 2025-06-19T14:44:41.972079 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia