I am looking for a specific short story I read in college. The story was written prior to 1981. The story was about an alien race that attacks a space station and dissolves the humans for a food source. The aliens place a few humans on a distant planet to breed... I am sure there is more to the story but that's all I can recall. Any help in identifying this story is greatly appreciated.
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1Is that distant planet called (wait for it) "Urf"?– ValorumCommented Feb 20, 2020 at 0:05
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3Were the aliens obsessed with meat?– Danny Mc GCommented Feb 20, 2020 at 0:22
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3@DannyMcG As a matter of fact—now that, thanks to Zab Zonk, we know the identity of the story—yes, the aliens were obsessed with meat. Why did you ask that? Were you thinking of leinster's "Proxima Centauri"?– user14111Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 7:04
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2@user14111 yep! It was the space station bit that didn't seem to fit, if the querent had confirmed the meat then I was gonna suggest Proxima Centauri– Danny Mc GCommented Feb 20, 2020 at 7:33
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Honestly, this sounds like the plot of a Dr. Who episode.– MastCommented Feb 20, 2020 at 21:51
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1 Answer
It's "Proxima Centauri", a short story by Murray Leinster published in 1935.
The human starship Adastra is in exploration and is suddenly attacked by a race of plant-based creatures, whose technology is superior to our own.
End of story, the aliens are greedy for biologic materials, a gluttony for them: hence, after capturing the ship (there are fierce fights aboard), they consume all the biological things it contains, humans included, in a huge eating party for every inhabitant of their planet.
Two humans are spared though (the main character and his beloved) and stowed for reproductive reasons on an idyllic planet personally owned by the aliens' chief.
But then things happen.
A really creative and engaging story: Leinster knew how to write a good plot.
More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri_(short_story)
Read the whole story here:
https://archive.org/stream/Astounding_v15n01_1935-03#page/n11/mode/1up
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1Why didn't I think of that one? The "space station" threw me off, that's my excuse. Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 6:49
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1Me too, for the same reason. Actually I thought of it and dismissed it for that reason. Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 14:19
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If accepted, duplicate of scifi.stackexchange.com/q/188540/28516 Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 15:48