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Misbegotten Missionary
It was a lovable little creature, anxious to help solve the troubles of the world. Moreover, it had the answer! But what man ever takes free advice?
24 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 26, 2016
64 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,341 books27.9k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 26, 2020
I was reminded of this old Isaac Asimov SF short story about hive minds when I was writing my review of Aurora Burning last night. The collective consciousness of a newly explored planet is determined to assimilate the visiting humans ... for their own good and happiness, you know. Just to make things more creepy, everything that's part of the collective mind has fuzzy green patches where their eyes should be, and the collective mind can infiltrate and change its shape to look like innocuous tools and other items. And once it's on the ship, if the ship returns to Earth the collective mind can take over our entire world.
Reportedly Asimov felt a little badly about this story once he realized how much it owed to John W. Campbell's Who Goes There?, but I first read this story as a teen (I've read it once or twice since then in anthologies) and I've never forgotten it.
Reportedly Asimov felt a little badly about this story once he realized how much it owed to John W. Campbell's Who Goes There?, but I first read this story as a teen (I've read it once or twice since then in anthologies) and I've never forgotten it.
August 21, 2018
Cell-fies?
Misbegotten Missionary by Isaac Asimov was one of the texts we read at school, in our English classes, thanks to a very good English teacher we had. This was about thirty years ago, and yet this story still lingers on my mind, and is probably one of the reasons why I have always had an open mind to science fiction literature.
The short story deals with an alien who weasels aboard a Terran spacecraft in order to spread the life form of completeness on to the newcomers. Terran life, as the alien perceives, is, at best, fragmented, leaving all life forms in isolation, which leads to dissatisfaction, fear and violence. In contrast, on “Saybrook’s Planet” – that’s how Terrans call the place where they have landed – life is harmonious and cooperative: There are no carnivorous species, and even the plants there grow special parts for animals to eat. Species do not multiply beyond a certain range of specimens so that there is no need for predators. Surely, Terran species cannot be happy with the dog-eat-dog organization of evolution – and that’s why the Saybrook organism wants to help by spreading its own system, making Terrans assimilate.
Misbegotten Missionary was originally published in 1950, later to be re-published under the title Green Patches, and its political and philosophical subtext is quite obvious: On the one hand, there is a social order based on competition and the free play of forces, whereas on the other hand, there is a central government supposed to coordinate and orchestrate these forces for the common best. U.S. vs. Soviet Union? Capitalism vs. socialism? Isaac Asimov, of course, does not really solve the question as to which of the two philosophies is to be preferred, and he skilfully leaves his readers a lot of leeway to come up with their own assessment. One of the humans in this story, the scientist Dr. Weiss is quite hard on Terran evolution when he says:
This finally leads him to the following unflattering conclusion:
In comparison, he underscores the advantages of how life is organized on Saybrook’s Planet
Later, however, he comes to a striking conclusion:
One might argue that this gift, or ostensorium, of individuality is a poor compensation for all the suffering, the fighting and insecurity, the feeling of forlornness that we often experience and have to go through. Besides, contemporary neurology seriously challenges the concept of free will, and the slogan of individuality has always been the pat defence of capitalists when they had to hedge their privileges. Asimov, as I said, does not solve this question for us – but then, how could he? The value a person attaches to themselves is, eventually (although it certainly depends upon many other factors), the result of individual cogitation. And this story definitely encourages us to think about ourselves and how we’d want to live.
Misbegotten Missionary by Isaac Asimov was one of the texts we read at school, in our English classes, thanks to a very good English teacher we had. This was about thirty years ago, and yet this story still lingers on my mind, and is probably one of the reasons why I have always had an open mind to science fiction literature.
The short story deals with an alien who weasels aboard a Terran spacecraft in order to spread the life form of completeness on to the newcomers. Terran life, as the alien perceives, is, at best, fragmented, leaving all life forms in isolation, which leads to dissatisfaction, fear and violence. In contrast, on “Saybrook’s Planet” – that’s how Terrans call the place where they have landed – life is harmonious and cooperative: There are no carnivorous species, and even the plants there grow special parts for animals to eat. Species do not multiply beyond a certain range of specimens so that there is no need for predators. Surely, Terran species cannot be happy with the dog-eat-dog organization of evolution – and that’s why the Saybrook organism wants to help by spreading its own system, making Terrans assimilate.
Misbegotten Missionary was originally published in 1950, later to be re-published under the title Green Patches, and its political and philosophical subtext is quite obvious: On the one hand, there is a social order based on competition and the free play of forces, whereas on the other hand, there is a central government supposed to coordinate and orchestrate these forces for the common best. U.S. vs. Soviet Union? Capitalism vs. socialism? Isaac Asimov, of course, does not really solve the question as to which of the two philosophies is to be preferred, and he skilfully leaves his readers a lot of leeway to come up with their own assessment. One of the humans in this story, the scientist Dr. Weiss is quite hard on Terran evolution when he says:
”’All life on Saybrook’s Planet is a single organism. In a sense, all life on Earth is too, but it’s a fighting dependence, a dog-eat-dog dependence. The bacteria fix nitrogen; the plants fix carbon; animals eat plants and each other; bacterial decay hits everything. It comes full circle. Each grabs as much as it can, and is, in turn, grabbed. […]’”
This finally leads him to the following unflattering conclusion:
”’And that’s what life on Earth really is, the kind of organic organization we have, compared to that on Saybrook’s Planet. One big cancer. Every species, every individual doing its best to thrive at the expense of every other species and individual.’”
In comparison, he underscores the advantages of how life is organized on Saybrook’s Planet
”On Saybrook’s Planet, each organism has its place, as each cell in our body does. […] Nothing is produced more or less than is needed. The scheme of life is intelligently altered to suit the local environment. No group of life forms multiplies more or less than is needed, just as the cells in our body stop multiplying when there are enough of them for a given purpose. […]’”
Later, however, he comes to a striking conclusion:
”’There would be no more overpopulation; the hordes of man-kind would decline to adjust themselves to the food supply. There would be no more wars, no crime, no greed.
But there would be no more individuality, either.
Humanity would find security by becoming a cog in a biological machine. A man would be brother to a germ, or to a liver cell.’”
One might argue that this gift, or ostensorium, of individuality is a poor compensation for all the suffering, the fighting and insecurity, the feeling of forlornness that we often experience and have to go through. Besides, contemporary neurology seriously challenges the concept of free will, and the slogan of individuality has always been the pat defence of capitalists when they had to hedge their privileges. Asimov, as I said, does not solve this question for us – but then, how could he? The value a person attaches to themselves is, eventually (although it certainly depends upon many other factors), the result of individual cogitation. And this story definitely encourages us to think about ourselves and how we’d want to live.
May 27, 2018
Excellent story, but....
Interesting and fun but I feel like I missed-out on the end meaning. Like, just what was the ending, what happened?
Interesting and fun but I feel like I missed-out on the end meaning. Like, just what was the ending, what happened?
January 3, 2026
Un relato delicioso, aterrador, elegantísimo en la sencillez de su desenlace. Qué curioso haberlo leído justo despues de terminar de ver Pluribus. Como siempre en Asimov, me fascina esa manera tan bonita de ponerse en el lugar de ese otro y hacernos empatizar mientras temblamos por nuestra especie.
March 18, 2020
A short story by Isaac Asimov
“Misbegotten Missionary” is an intriguing Asimov story that looks at the differences and encounters between humans (“fragments”) and a joined life form that makes up all life on a planet visited by space explorers.
“Misbegotten Missionary” is an intriguing Asimov story that looks at the differences and encounters between humans (“fragments”) and a joined life form that makes up all life on a planet visited by space explorers.
December 11, 2024
Love it
Who doesn't love a short story by Isaac Asimov? It definitely makes you think I loved the characters, and the storyline really makes you think,now think when it was written and where we are today
Who doesn't love a short story by Isaac Asimov? It definitely makes you think I loved the characters, and the storyline really makes you think,now think when it was written and where we are today
August 22, 2025
An oddly cute and horrific short story. The 'missionary' seemed to be, at first, rather amicable and an underdog of sorts, but as the story develops, the 'missionary' reveals itself to be something out of a most severe and vivid nightmare.
The prose was so clear, as usual for Asimov, and there was such an endearing quality to this story. I really liked the philosophical conundrum placed at hand, which makes me see the very existence of life as a sort of immoral 'thing.' I don't know how else to explain it other than that.
The prose was so clear, as usual for Asimov, and there was such an endearing quality to this story. I really liked the philosophical conundrum placed at hand, which makes me see the very existence of life as a sort of immoral 'thing.' I don't know how else to explain it other than that.
February 11, 2019
This is a cute short story about a world organism and the humans who came to examine its world.
February 24, 2019
An old friend.
I've been a fan of Asimov since I was a young teen. I read this story over forty years ago. Still as entertaining now as it was then.
I've been a fan of Asimov since I was a young teen. I read this story over forty years ago. Still as entertaining now as it was then.
February 19, 2020
Provocative.
A balanced - complete utopia wherein all lifes get what they need, and need no more than they get vs. the incompleteness and chaos of individual free will.
A balanced - complete utopia wherein all lifes get what they need, and need no more than they get vs. the incompleteness and chaos of individual free will.
July 21, 2020
Great little short story.
November 1, 2022
An interesting story about a life form hitch hiking onboard a spacecraft on its way back to Earth after discovering a previous ship’s destruction. Interesting finish. Definitely recommended
January 26, 2024
Although this short story was published in 1950, it isn't as dated as the other short stories written around the same time.
December 4, 2024
An alien invasion stopped at the last minute! I liked this story.
June 2, 2025
Good short stories. Enjoyed them all
July 6, 2020
Old Sci Fi is fun to read and compare with what has actually happened since it was written. Short story that was really more about the difference between the chaos of having individuality and free-will and a utopian system where all is perfectly supplied.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews