"The Handicapped" is a science fiction short story by Larry Niven, originally published in the December 1967 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction as "Handicap". Set in the Known Space universe, the story introduces the Grogs, the sessile but sentient inhabitants of the planet Down.
Mr Garvey arrives at the planet Down, having heard about the natives called Grogs. Garvey Limited, a company owned by his father, makes artificial limbs and other tools for the "Handicapped" species; sentient beings that evolved minds but with nothing that would serve as hands, like dolphins. A local reluctantly agrees to show him a living Grog in the desert, but the Grog turns out to be a disappointment. It is sessile enough, being a furry cone living anchored to a rock, but it seems utterly void of sentience. The latter observation is later confirmed by a local exobiologist.
The next morning, Garvey has a revelation. Somehow he knows the Grogs are sentient, without knowing why he knows. He returns to the desert and finds another Grog that begins to communicate with Garvey telepathically. It turns out the Grogs are indeed sentient beings with strong telepathic abilities, but for fear of being perceived as a threat for this very reason, they have concealed this until now. But having read Garvey's mind, and seeing that he can help them break their isolation, they are willing to take their chances. Garvey worries that the Grog telepathic power is very like those of the Thrintun (or Slavers).
He returns the next day with a typewriter that a Grog can use to communicate non-telepathically, as he does not like the "crystal certainties" placed into his mind. The Grog indicates that life as sessile creatures is very boring. They would like an animal with something like hands that they can control, plus access to human libraries and guest lecturers who would not object to having their minds read. They offer to use their powers to herd livestock, guard Down against invasion, perform police work, and monitor zoo animals. They deny any knowledge of the Slavers and claim that working together the Grogs cannot reach more than halfway across the planet with their minds, so they are no threat to humans.
Due to the public relations problems of the Grog power, a campaign is launched to show the Grogs as harmless and useful. But just in case, an old Bussard ramjet ship is placed in orbit that can be used to cause the local sun to emit deadly radiation. Garvey still worries that the Grogs might not be truthful regarding the range of their power and be able to defeat that fail-safe.
Known Space is the fictional setting of about a dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by Larry Niven. It has also become a shared universe in the spin-off Man-Kzin Wars anthologies. ISFDB catalogs all works set in the fictional universe that includes Known Space under the series name Tales of Known Space, which was the title of a 1975 collection of Niven's short stories. The first-published work in the series, which was Niven's first published piece was "The Coldest Place", in the December 1964 issue of If magazine, edited by Frederik Pohl. This was the first-published work in the 1975 collection.
The Culture is a fictional interstellar post-scarcity civilisation or society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks and features in a number of his space opera novels and works of short fiction, collectively called the Culture series.
Nemesis is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. One of his later science fiction novels, it was published in 1989, three years before his death. The novel is loosely related to the future history of his Robot Series, Empire Series, and Foundation Series, into which Asimov attempted to integrate his science fiction output. This novel is connected to Asimov's other works by several ideas from earlier and later novels, including non-human intelligence, sentient astronomical bodies (Hallucination), and rotor engines.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) is a science fiction novel by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt. An example of space opera subgenre, the novel is a "fix-up" compilation of four previously published stories:
Transhuman Space (THS) is a role-playing game by David Pulver, published by Steve Jackson Games as part of the "Powered by GURPS" line. Set in the year 2100, humanity has begun to colonize the Solar System. The pursuit of transhumanism is now in full swing, as more and more people reach fully posthuman states.
The Noon Universe is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The universe is named after Noon: 22nd Century, chronologically the first novel from the series.
Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus is the third novel in the Lucky Starr series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by Doubleday & Company in 1954. Since 1972, reprints have included a foreword by Asimov explaining that advancing knowledge of conditions on Venus have rendered the novel's descriptions of that world inaccurate.
Alien Planet is a 2005 docufiction TV special created for the Discovery Channel. Based on the 1990 book Expedition by the artist and writer Wayne Barlowe, Alien Planet explores the imagined extraterrestrial life of the fictional planet Darwin IV in the style of a nature documentary. Although closely following Barlowe's depiction of Darwin IV, Alien Planet features a team of scientists and science fiction figures discussing Darwin IV as if it had actually been discovered. Among the people featured are Michio Kaku, Stephen Hawking, Jack Horner, James B. Garvin and George Lucas.
Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb is a 1965 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965.
World of Ptavvs is a science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven, first published in 1966 and set in his Known Space universe. It was Niven's first published novel and is based on a 1965 magazine story of the same name.
The Finisterre universe is a fictional universe created by American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. Currently, it comprises a series of two science fiction / horror novels written by Cherryh, Rider at the Gate (1995) and Cloud's Rider (1996), also known as The Rider Series. They were published by Warner Books in the US and Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom. The series is about the descendants of lost colonists stranded many generations ago on the hostile planet of Finisterre. For continuity, the two novels should be read in publication sequence.
The Ood are an alien species with telepathic abilities from the long-running science fiction series Doctor Who. In the series' narrative, they live in the distant future.
"Each an Explorer" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was written in June 1956 and first published in issue #30 of Future Science Fiction. It was also reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories.
First Lensman is a science fiction novel and space opera by American author E. E. Smith. It was first published in 1950 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5,995 copies. Although it is the second novel in the Lensman series, it was the sixth written. The novel chronicles the founding of the Galactic Patrol by Virgil Samms, the first sentient being in our cosmos to wear the "Lens", a unique badge of authority which is actually a form of "pseudo-life" that grants telepathic powers to the defenders of Civilization.
A Beautiful Friendship is a 2011 young adult science fiction novel by American author David Weber. Set in the fictional Honorverse, the book serves as a prequel to the main Honor Harrington series, which takes place hundreds of years later in the fictional timeline.
The Quadrail series is a sequence of five science fiction novels by Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn.