Time Pussy by Isaac Asimov Episode #50

Isaac Asimov | December 27, 2022

Time Pussy by Isaac Asimov Episode #50
Isaac Asimov

TIME PUSSY

Episode #50 · Written by Isaac Asimov · Narrated by Scott Miller

Old Mac swore his pets could stretch into next week — and he wasn’t exaggerating. His “time pussies” were the most remarkable creatures ever found in the Asteroid Belt… until science and greed caught up with them.

Before there were robots, psychohistorians, or galactic empires, there was an old miner named Mac spinning yarns about “time pussies.” Sitting in his shack after the Asteroid Rush of ’37, he tells a wide-eyed listener about the strangest pets ever discovered — small four-dimensional creatures whose bodies stretched through time itself. Stroke their heads today and they wag their tails tomorrow. Hear them yowl at burglars a full day before trouble arrives. And, inevitably, watch greed and misunderstanding doom them to extinction. Time Pussy takes the form of a tall-tale told with frontier charm, comic absurdity, and genuine melancholy.

First published in Astounding Science-Fiction in 1942, this story reveals the young Isaac Asimov in a playful mood rarely seen in his later, more cerebral works. Here, the raw energy of early pulp storytelling meets the precision of scientific imagination. Old Mac’s folksy voice feels closer to Mark Twain than to the mathematicians of Foundation, yet the theme — human fallibility in the face of discovery — is pure Asimov. The story is funny, fast-paced, and irresistibly clever, ending on a note that’s both absurd and strangely touching.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isaac Asimov was one of the defining intellects of the twentieth century. Born in Petrovichi, Russia, and raised in Brooklyn, he taught biochemistry at Boston University while writing hundreds of works that bridged science and storytelling. His Foundation saga introduced the grand sweep of future history; his Robot stories gave the world the famous Three Laws of Robotics. A passionate educator, essayist, and humanist, Asimov made science accessible and thrilling. Time Pussy, written when he was barely out of his teens, shows the spark that would one day ignite galaxies of imagination — a glimpse of the humor and heart behind the legend.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to Time Pussy by Isaac Asimov — a witty vintage science fiction tale of four-dimensional cats, asteroid prospectors, and the perils of curiosity.