I'm trying to identify a short sci-fi story about an expedition to a distant planet, inhabited by human-like, somewhat primitive aliens that lived as a matriarchy. The story is told as a narration of the trip from one of the scientists involved to a guest at his house.
The main characteristic of this planet was a dense atmosphere (or something like that) which blocked most of the light from reaching the surface. So the aliens and animals there hyper-developed their sense of touch. The aliens hunted by leaving traps carefully designed to hypnotize or put in a trance state those touching it. The guest is touching one of these, which the scientist brought back from his trip. Other thing about this society, derived from the dense atmosphere, was that obesity was a highly sought characteristic because "more surface improves light absorption capacity" or something like that.
I don't remember how the cannibalism was justified, but towards the end, we discover the scientist has brought back with him one of these obese women, and is going to feed her his, by now, completely entranced guest.
I read it in a compilation from the late '80s, it could be older.
Answer
I'm trying to identify a short sci-fi story
"The Hypnoglyph", a short story by the poet John Ciardi, originally published as by "John Anthony". (It's also one of the stories described in the old question Anthology book with story about robotic bombers.) It was first published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1953, available at the Internet Archive. Any of these covers look familiar?
about an expedition to a distant planet, inhabited by human-like, somewhat primitive aliens that lived as a matriarchy.
"[. . .] It isn't a highly developed society in our terms: a rigid tribal matriarchy with a few basic tools that only the women are permitted to operate, and at that only a special clan of the women. The other women lounge about on delicately arranged hill terraces and just lie motionless soaking up sun energy or working up a little voodoo mostly based on hypnotism and tactile gratification."
The main characteristic of this planet was a dense atmosphere (or something like that) which blocked most of the light from reaching the surface. So the aliens and animals there hyper-developed their sense of touch.
"[. . .] DK-8 has a dense and tropical atmosphere. It's rather high in CO2 and perpetually misty. The sun's rays have a hard time getting through the atmosphere. Also the planet is all-tropical. Consequently the animal life from which the DKs evolved never had to develop a fur covering. Hair is unknown on the planet. Instead, the DK life-forms developed a skin structure extremely sensitive to whatever diffused sun rays they can get. The skin is soft and pallid as a slug's. If a DK were exposed to the direct rays of Sol for a few minutes, he'd die of sunburn."
Jaris held up the cheroot before him and blew a puff of smoke over its lit end. "Nature," he said, "always has a trick of trying to deal two cards at once. The prehensile hand developed for one reason and became useful for something else. Just so, the DK's tremendously sensitive skin developed originally to absorb the most possible sun, but became in time the basis for a tremendously developed tactile sense.
"That goes for the lower animals too. Their tropisms are fantastically dominant over their other responses. Once an animal starts stroking one of those gadgets as you're doing, it simply cannot stop."
Maddick smiled and looked at his hand without answering. The polished sides of the thing gleamed dully, and his thumb ran down into and over the little hollow. Down into and over. Down into and over.
"You might almost say," Jaris continued, "that the DKs have developed a tactile science to a degree unknown to us. The energy we have put into a tool culture, they hae put into a tactile culture. [. . .]"
The aliens hunted by leaving traps carefully designed to hypnotize or put in a trance state those touching it. The guest is touching one of these, which the scientist brought back from his trip.
"The women of the proper clan work these things, and the men set them out in the forests. As you might suppose, the men are a rather scrawny lot, and would starve soon enough if they had to depend on their own muscular prowess as hunters. These gadgets take care of all that, however. The animals, with their extremely high tactile suggestibility, come through the forest and find one of these things in their way. They begin to stroke it and feel it, and they just can't stop. The men don't even kill them; all slaughtering is handled by the ruling clan of women. The men simply wait till the animal has worked itself into the right state, and then lead it back to the slaughtering compound—still under hypnosis of course."
"Of course," Maddick agreed, his fingers working softly and rhythmically.
Other thing about this society, derived from the dense atmosphere, was that obesity was a highly sought characteristic because "more surface improves light absorption capacity" or something like that.
His voice grew softer and slightly distant. "As you might expect, they grow incredibly obese. At first it seemed repulsive to see them lying so. But on DK-8 obesity is really a survival characteristic. It makes for more surface to absorb sun energy. And the women have such perfect control of their skin surfaces that their bodies remain strangely well-proportioned."
. . . towards the end, we discover the scientist has brought back with him one of these obese women, and is going to feed her his by now completely entranced guest.
Jaris straightened, still smiling sadly, picked up a curiously wrought little bell from the desk and tinkled it once.
Across the room, a door swung open on a darkened alcove in which something huge and pale showed dimly.
"He is ready, darling," Jaris said.
I read it in a compilation from the late '80s.
Perhaps the anthology Science Fiction Stories edited by Tom Boardman, Jr.?
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