Bicycle themed Sci-Fi
10-28-19, 10:02 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Bicycle themed Sci-Fi
This is just a wild shot. I'm looking for the title and author of a science fiction story I read many years ago. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, that's why I'd like to read it again.
Two guys are arguing over whether or not aliens have ever visited earth. One claims they would have left some evidence. The other that if they were smart enough to get here they'd be smart enough to cover their tracks. They wouldn't even have to be an intelligent life form, just able to camouflage themselves as something we'd accept as a normal part of our environment.
"Like what?"
"Something like paper clips, at least for the egg stage."
"Paper clips are aliens?"
"Not all of them and only the eggs. Hundreds of millions of aliens would still be a percentage too small to measure compared to the total number of paperclips. Have you ever noticed how sometimes it seems like your desk drawers are overflowing with paperclips, then a little later you couldn't find one to save your life?"
It goes on from there with the hatching paperclips becoming wire coat hangers. The wire hangers later metamorphose like caterpillars into butterflies only the hangers become bicycles. There's a really nice twist to the ending I'd rather not reveal if anyone can identify the story from the plot line.
Does this ring any bells?
Two guys are arguing over whether or not aliens have ever visited earth. One claims they would have left some evidence. The other that if they were smart enough to get here they'd be smart enough to cover their tracks. They wouldn't even have to be an intelligent life form, just able to camouflage themselves as something we'd accept as a normal part of our environment.
"Like what?"
"Something like paper clips, at least for the egg stage."
"Paper clips are aliens?"
"Not all of them and only the eggs. Hundreds of millions of aliens would still be a percentage too small to measure compared to the total number of paperclips. Have you ever noticed how sometimes it seems like your desk drawers are overflowing with paperclips, then a little later you couldn't find one to save your life?"
It goes on from there with the hatching paperclips becoming wire coat hangers. The wire hangers later metamorphose like caterpillars into butterflies only the hangers become bicycles. There's a really nice twist to the ending I'd rather not reveal if anyone can identify the story from the plot line.
Does this ring any bells?
10-28-19, 10:15 PM
#2
Mad bike riding scientist
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Or All the Seas with Oysters by Adam Davidson. Hugo award winner in 1958.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
10-28-19, 11:21 PM
#3
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Or All the Seas with Oysters by Adam Davidson. Hugo award winner in 1958.
10-28-19, 11:38 PM
#4
Destroyer of Worlds
This is just a wild shot. I'm looking for the title and author of a science fiction story I read many years ago. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, that's why I'd like to read it again.
Two guys are arguing over whether or not aliens have ever visited earth. One claims they would have left some evidence. The other that if they were smart enough to get here they'd be smart enough to cover their tracks. They wouldn't even have to be an intelligent life form, just able to camouflage themselves as something we'd accept as a normal part of our environment.
"Like what?"
"Something like paper clips, at least for the egg stage."
"Paper clips are aliens?"
"Not all of them and only the eggs. Hundreds of millions of aliens would still be a percentage too small to measure compared to the total number of paperclips. Have you ever noticed how sometimes it seems like your desk drawers are overflowing with paperclips, then a little later you couldn't find one to save your life?"
It goes on from there with the hatching paperclips becoming wire coat hangers. The wire hangers later metamorphose like caterpillars into butterflies only the hangers become bicycles. There's a really nice twist to the ending I'd rather not reveal if anyone can identify the story from the plot line.
Does this ring any bells?
Two guys are arguing over whether or not aliens have ever visited earth. One claims they would have left some evidence. The other that if they were smart enough to get here they'd be smart enough to cover their tracks. They wouldn't even have to be an intelligent life form, just able to camouflage themselves as something we'd accept as a normal part of our environment.
"Like what?"
"Something like paper clips, at least for the egg stage."
"Paper clips are aliens?"
"Not all of them and only the eggs. Hundreds of millions of aliens would still be a percentage too small to measure compared to the total number of paperclips. Have you ever noticed how sometimes it seems like your desk drawers are overflowing with paperclips, then a little later you couldn't find one to save your life?"
It goes on from there with the hatching paperclips becoming wire coat hangers. The wire hangers later metamorphose like caterpillars into butterflies only the hangers become bicycles. There's a really nice twist to the ending I'd rather not reveal if anyone can identify the story from the plot line.
Does this ring any bells?
10-29-19, 01:05 AM
#5
The dropped
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Or All the Seas with Oysters by Adam Davidson. Hugo award winner in 1958.
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10-29-19, 07:28 AM
#6
Mad bike riding scientist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denver, CO
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I read it ages ago in The Hugo Winners edited by Isaac Asimov. Probably about 1973. It was one of the books I got for joining the Science Fiction Book Club.
__________________
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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