Beyond Lies the Wub by Philip K Dick

Beyond Lies the Wub is science fiction short story by Philip K Dick, originally published in the US magazine Planet Stories in July 1952.

The slovenly wub might well have said: Many men talk like philosophers and live like fools.

While visiting Mars, Peterson buys a massive pig-like creature known as a "wub", from a native Martian just before the spaceship he is a crew member of departs. The wub stays aboard despite the Captains concerns and before long the crew realise the wub is actually an intelligent, sentient creature capable of telepathy and possibly even mind control.

Rather than being re-assured by the knowledge that the wub is intelligent, the captains concerns grow even more serious and these concerns grow even greater after a confrontation with the creature leaves the captain temporarily paralysed.

The running them throughout the novel is one of immortality along with one of Dicks popular themes of intolerance. Dick presents humans as intractable while a deeper humanity is exhibited by a creature that looks like the offspring of a slug mating with a pig. A great little short story, true Philip K Dick.