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the cave floor. The blood freezes in the cold of the night and he attaches the resulting small bars of metal to the remaining cracks in his ship's hull. The next morning, his assistants emerge to continue welding, which melts the bars of blood. The smell attracts many local predators, and
Cunningham makes his way onto the ship in the commotion. Although the assistants easily fight off the alien animals, Cunningham locks them in the airlock as they attempt to return to the ship. He then sends out a distress call and sits back, as rescue will arrive in several hours.
88:). The planet itself is quite similar to Earth's Moon, being airless and of a similar size, but due to the daily heating by its sun, the terrain is very different and appears strangely windswept. Cunningham also investigates the local life forms which include plants, herbivores, and carnivores. He dissects a few of the animals and finds that they have liquid metal for blood and that their eyes are more like noses, in that their eyes function as
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Taking refuge in a cave, Cunningham watches his ship and his assistants as they attempt to repair it, welding up cracks in the ship's hull. However, they only work during the day and return to the inside of the ship at night. By night, Cunningham kills animals and collects their blood in grooves in
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Laird
Cunningham is a rich man who enjoys travelling to distant worlds in search of bizarre life forms. On the trip told in this story, Cunningham overhears the plotting of his two assistants to loot the ship. To avoid this, he forces a crash landing on an unnamed planet, sabotages the ship and
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with respect to the local gas molecules, which in the near vacuum travel in essentially straight lines like light rays. Cunningham realises that the animals navigate mostly by smell, since the extremely bright, undiffused sunlight would hamper an optical sense.
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Cunningham goes exploring and finds that the planet is very strange and orbits one of the fiercest suns in the galaxy (
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These Hugo awards were retroactively awarded for short stories published 50, 75, or 100 years prior
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40:"Uncommon Sense" was first published in the September 1945 edition of
201:"The Locus Index to Science Fiction: 2000. Stories, Listed by Author"
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68:" in 1987. In February 2000, all four stories were re-published in
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Works originally published in Analog
Science Fiction and Fact
243:"The Locus Index to Science Fiction: 2000. Contents Lists"
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The
Essential Hal Clement, Volume 2: Music of Many Spheres
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28:. In 1996, it was retrospectively awarded the 1946
693:Hugo Award for Best Short Story winning works
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46:and included in Clement's 1969 collection
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109:described "Uncommon Sense" as a classic
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154:. sfwa.org. 2003-11-09. Archived from
271:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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52:. Subsequently, it was published in
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133:. thehugoawards.org. 26 July 2007
30:Hugo Award for Best Short Story
24:short story by American writer
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698:Science fiction short stories
413:The Nine Billion Names of God
180:"Nebula Awards Showcase 2000"
604:Through the Eye of a Needle
54:Nebula Awards Showcase 2000
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367:"King of the Gray Spaces"
43:Astounding Science Fiction
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152:"Hal Clement (1922-2003)"
688:Fiction set around Deneb
540:The Ranger Boys in Space
131:"1946 Retro Hugo Awards"
612:The Best of Hal Clement
369:or: "R is for Rocket"
269:title listing at the
158:on February 20, 2008
111:hard science fiction
340:How We Went to Mars
36:Publication history
683:1945 short stories
532:Mission of Gravity
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556:Close to Critical
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620:The Nitrogen Fix
564:Natives of Space
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360:"The Twonky" by
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321:Best Short Story
317:Retro Hugo Award
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402:To Serve Man
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247:. Retrieved
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184:. Retrieved
182:. sfsite.com
160:. Retrieved
156:the original
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135:. Retrieved
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60:" in 1974, "
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20:" is a 1945
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636:Still River
504:Hal Clement
395:Hal Clement
26:Hal Clement
677:Categories
580:Star Light
249:2008-05-22
228:2008-05-22
207:2008-05-20
186:2008-05-20
162:2008-05-20
137:2008-05-20
117:References
652:Half Life
502:Works by
456:2001–2020
451:1981–2000
446:1961–1980
441:1955–1960
380:I, Rocket
279:" at the
101:Reception
524:Iceworld
107:SF Site
663:(2003)
655:(1999)
647:(1993)
644:Fossil
639:(1987)
631:(1987)
628:Intuit
623:(1980)
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607:(1978)
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583:(1971)
575:(1969)
567:(1965)
559:(1958)
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519:(1950)
516:Needle
419:(1954)
408:(1951)
397:(1946)
386:(1945)
375:(1944)
364:(1943)
357:(1941)
351:Robbie
346:(1939)
660:Noise
436:Retro
415:" by
404:" by
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353:" by
342:" by
86:Deneb
319:for
105:The
76:Plot
371:by
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