"Do flies live very long?"
— Hélène Delambre
"The Fly" is a short science fiction mystery story by George Langelaan, which was published in the Playboy magazine in 1957.
One night François Delambre gets a call from his sister-in-law Hélène, who informs him that she has killed his brother (and her husband) André. Her claim is proven true as André's partially crushed body is found under a steam-hammer in Delambre family's factory. Thus starts the unraveling of the circumstances that led to André's death.
In 1958, a largely-faithful film adaptation was released. An In Name Only version by David Cronenberg was released in 1986.
This story has the examples of:
- Driven to Suicide: André's fate, as aided by Hélène. She follows suit with cyanide shortly after giving her written confession to François.
- LEGO Body Parts: The Teleporter Accident left André with a fly leg in the place of his right hand, and cat-fly head in the place of his own.
- Merging Mistake: The Teleporter Accident with André and the fly left them with their heads and arm/leg swapped around.
- Screaming Woman: When Hélène finally sees what exactly has happened to her husband, she starts screaming and is unable to stop it for a long time.
- The Speechless: The accident left André unable to speak, and he communicates to Hélène with knocks and written messages.
- Teleporter Accident: Multiple, with André's teleporter:
- André's own accident, resulting in a Merging Mistake with a fly.
- A botched teleportation left his cat Dandelo stuck between the transportation points.
