28

It was a short SF story I read approx 40 years ago. Unremembered anthology in the UK.

An alien scout party beam up or abduct a man and a woman, strangers to one another, from some American road. The aliens strip them and inspect and then discuss their physique.

The alien captain asks if the woman is defective because she has small pert bosoms, he has a copy of a magazine translated as 'Recreation Lad' and, in the images of that magazine, bosoms are depicted as large globes.

The captive man assures the captain that the woman is fine, pleased with this the captain then asks them to mate so his science team can study the mating process.

Upon refusing, and following several heated discussions, the aliens release the humans after allowing them to get dressed.

It ends with the pair chatting near their cars and knowing that nobody will ever believe them. I think they then decide to go on a date.

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    sounds like the title of mystery or scifi recapped video
    – BCLC
    Jan 24, 2022 at 4:03

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
40

Playboy and the Slime God by Asimov, aka What is this Thing called Love.

“The bosom does not consist of globes or spheres. I know what globes or spheres are and in these pictures you have shown me, they are so depicted. Those are large globes. On this creature, though, what we have are nothing but small flaps of dry tissue. And they’re discolored, too, partly.”

“Nonsense,” said Botax. “You must allow room for natural variation. I will put it to the creature herself.”

He turned to Marge, “Madam, is your bosom imperfect?

The story has appeared in many, many anthologies. I forget where I first read it, but the copy I used for the quote above was from Nightfall Two. It can be read online at the Internet Archive (thanks to user14111 for the link).

Improve this answer
7
  • 4
    And it ends with the couple "getting it on" and one of the aliens shouting to his captain "look what they're doing" I think.
    – sueelleker
    Jan 23, 2022 at 9:54
  • 1
    @sueelleker Yes, indeed ! But too late for the captain to see, fortunately for mankind ! ;)
    – Alfred
    Jan 23, 2022 at 11:37
  • 1
    As far as I know this was the only other time (besides “The Gods Themselves” a decade later, of course) that Asimov touched on sex in a work of Science Fiction.
    – Euro Micelli
    Jan 23, 2022 at 17:43
  • 3
    @EuroMicelli Well, there's "I'm in Marsport without Hilda"
    – user888379
    Jan 23, 2022 at 19:52
  • 2
    And plenty of touches (as it were) in his later works, such as The Robots Of Dawn, and Foundation And Earth.
    – gidds
    Jan 23, 2022 at 21:17

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.