Beyond Lies the Wub

‘Beyond Lies the Wub‘ is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was his first published genre story, originally appearing in Planet Stories in July 1952. It was first collected in The Preserving Machine in 1969, and was included in The Best of Philip K. Dick in 1977. It was the title story for the first volume of the original edition of Dick‘s collected stories. Translations of ‘Beyond Lies the Wub‘ have appeared in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish; and the story has been included in more than a dozen anthologies. Peterson, a crew member of a spaceship loading up with food animals on Mars, buys an enormous pig-like creature known as a ‘wub‘ from a native just before departure. Franco, his captain, is worried about the extra weight but seems more concerned about its taste, as his ship is short of food. However, after takeoff, the crew realizes that the wub is a very intelligent creature, capable of telepathy and maybe even mind control.