Laboratory

"Laboratory" by Jerome Bixby is a science fiction short story originally published in the mid-20th century, specifically in the December 1955 issue of "Worlds of If Science Fiction." The narrative revolves around the complicated interactions between two alien scientists—a senior named Pud and his junior assistant Gop—and a pair of human explorers, Johnny and Helen Gorman, who unintentionally land on their secretive laboratory-planet. The story delves into themes of advanced intelligence, the implications of contact between different species, and the unintended consequences of scientific experimentation. In "Laboratory," the two alien scientists are engrossed in their experiments when they suddenly encounter the unexpected arrival of the human duo. Following a series of humorous and chaotic encounters, including the activation of various experimental energy fields, the Vegans find themselves revealing their presence to the humans. Pud and Gop wrestle with the regulations of Contact and the potential repercussions of their exposure to the aliens. Ultimately, they devise a method to erase the humans' memories of the event and send them back in time to avoid any disruptive knowledge of their existence. The story explores the idea of how civilizations at different levels of technological advancement interact and the ethical considerations involved in such encounters. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Drexel Jerome Lewis Bixby was an American short story writer and scriptwriter. He wrote the 1953 story "It's a Good Life", which was included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame. It formed the basis of a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone and was remade in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). He wrote four episodes for the Star Trek series: "Mirror, Mirror", "Day of the Dove", "Requiem for Methuselah", and "By Any Other Name". With Otto Klement, he co-wrote the story upon which the science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage (1966), the related television series, and the related Isaac Asimov novel were based. Bixby's final produced or published work so far was the screenplay for the 2007 science fiction film The Man from Earth.