"Thirsty God" is a science fiction story by American writer Margaret St. Clair, first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for March 1953 and collected in St. Clair's Change the Sky and Other Stories (1974).
Overview
"Thirsty God" is a science fiction story by American writer Margaret St. Clair, first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for March 1953 and collected in St. Clair's Change the Sky and Other Stories (1974).
The story takes place on Venus, in a version of the Solar System in which Venus and Mars are both inhabitable. Venus has a long rainy season and is home to several humanoid species, while Mars is a desert planet that was home to a now long-vanished advanced civilization, .
Plot summary
During the rainy season on Venus Brian, an amoral human visitor, flees for his life from the family of a purple-skinned Hrothy girl whom he has raped. Taking refuge in what appears to be a shrine, he is relieved when his pursuers do not follow, and he prepares to wait out their siege.
In fact the shrine is actually an automated biological factory built by ancient Martians, designed to adapt their bodies to the much wetter conditions on Venus. While Brian sleeps the factory sets to work converting his body, but since Brian is not a Martian the process malfunctions.
Next morning Brian wakes to see the Hrothy gone, and assumes that they have either departed to fetch reinforcements or are lying in ambush. When he tries to get up, however, he is horrified to learn that he cannot move a muscle, and is tormented by a terrible thirst.
