History Literature / TheBotticelliHorror

The local authorities, Commissioner Cornley and Sheriff Townsend, are blaming Elmer, a giant Venusian snail owned by a man named Bronsky who regularly performs in a local carnival; Elmer can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift]], and his most popular act is to form himself into a replica of the figure from Sandro Botticelli's painting ''[[Art/TheBirthOfVenusBotticelli The Birth of Venus]]'', owing to his shell. Allen and Hilks are on hand to ensure Elmer was brought to Earth legally and whether Bronsky can be held responsible for the snail's crimes... assuming he did in fact kill the children.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. The Night Cloaks' first victims are three children, two of whom die.

''The Botticelli Horror'' is a short story by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. It was published in ''Fantastic Science Fiction'' in 1960 and is set in an [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture unspecified future]]. Humanity has colonized the universe, but people still live on Earth. As with real world countries, the smuggling of rare and exotic animals from planet to planet is a huge problem. Allen works as an inspector for a government agency known as Terran Customs, and he and his colleague Dr. Ralph Hilks have been sent to the Kansas town of Gwinn Center to investigate the grisly murder of two children and the maiming of a third: Sharon Brown, her sister Ruth and their friend Johnnie Larkins were attacked by something that killed the two sisters and left Johnnie, the child who survived, legless. Only one girl's [[OffWithHisHead head]] has been left behind, along with the kids' shoes; even the shoes of Johnnie, who lost his legs, were left. Local physician Dr. Anderson can't identify what could've attacked the three.

* GentleGiant: Elmer. When the cops first think he killed the kids, a visibly upset Bronsky (his owner) insists Elmer is too sweet-natured and friendly to have done an awful thing. He turns out to be right; not only are Night Cloaks the real killers, but when Allen meets Elmer himself at the end of the story, [[spoiler:the big snail is quite friendly and even shapeshifts into a human form (Allen's) so he can shake the inspector's hand.]]

The local authorities, Commissioner Cornley and Sheriff Townsend, are blaming Elmer, a giant Venusian snail owned by a man named Bronsky who regularly performs in a local carnival; Elmer can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift]], and his most popular act is to form himself into a replica of the figure from Sandro Botticelli's painting ''Art/TheBirthOfVenus'', owing to his shell. Allen and Hilks are on hand to ensure Elmer was brought to Earth legally and whether Bronsky can be held responsible for the snail's crimes... assuming he did in fact kill the children.

The story has seen reprint a few times, such as in ''Monsters'', the eighth installment of Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story collection series, ''IsaacAsimovsWonderfulWorldsOfScienceFiction'', as well as another short story collection Asimov put together (he really seems to have liked it!), ''Literature/FantasticCreatures''.

The story has seen reprint a few times, such as in ''Monsters'', the eighth installment of Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story collection series, ''Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction'', as well as another short story collection Asimov put together (he really seems to have liked it!), ''Literature/FantasticCreatures''.

''The Botticelli Horror'' is a short story by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. It was published in ''Fantastic Science Fiction'' in 1960 and is set in an [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture unspecified future]]. Humanity has colonized the universe, but people still live on Earth. As with real world countries, the smuggling of rare and exotic animals from planet to planet is a huge problem. Allen works as an inspector for a government agency known as Terran Customs, and he and his colleague Dr. Ralph Hilks have been sent to the Kansas Town of Gwinn Center to investigate the grisly murder of two children and the maiming of a third: Sharon Brown, her sister Ruth and their friend Johnnie Larkins were attacked by something that killed the two sisters and left Johnnie, the child who survived, legless. Only one girl's [[OffWithHisHead head]] has been left behind, along with the kids' shoes; even the shoes of Johnnie, who lost his legs, were left. Local physician Dr. Anderson can't identify what could've attacked the three.

* HydraProblem: As a result of the Night Cloaks being [[AstroidsMonster Asteroids Monsters]].

The story has seen reprint a few times, such as in ''Monsters'', the eighth installment of Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story collection series, ''Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction''.

* RedshirtArmy: General Fontaine's troops are pretty much just in the story to die.

The local authorities, Commissioner Cornley and Sheriff Townsend, are blaming Elmer, a giant Venusian snail owned by a man named Bronsky who regularly performs in a local carnival; Elmer can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift]], and his most popular act is to form himself into a replica of the figure from Sandro Botticelli's painting ''The Birth of Venus'', owing to his shell. Allen and Hilks are on hand to ensure Elmer was brought to Earth legally and whether Bronsky can be held responsible for the snail's crimes... assuming he did in fact kill the children.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Elmer's main ability. He can form the soft parts of his body into a nearly perfect imitation of anyone or any''thing'', right down to the color; when imitating Anderson during his act, for example, he even forms the clothes the doctor is wearing and gets the color of his tie right.

* MenAreTheExpendablegender: Mostly played straight considering that there aren't any major female characters (most of the people who encounter the Night Cloaks are, after all, soldiers), but of the three children who get killed at the beginning, only the little boy, Johnnie, survives, while girls Sharon and Ruth die.

* AsteroidsMonsters: The soldiers shoot the Night Cloaks to pieces, thinking they've won and stopped the invasion... only for the individual pieces to arise as ''more'' Night Cloaks, doubling their numbers.