One Man's Poison

"One Man's Poison" by Robert Sheckley is a science fiction story that journeys into the absurd challenges of interstellar survival, following two space travelers named Hellman and Casker as they confront a strange, foodless planet after a spaceship journey. Stranded and starving, the pair stumbles upon a warehouse filled with alien matter, but they are in a comical debate about whether what they found could be food or poison. Their desperate hunt for sustenance takes a turn for the bizarre when they cross paths with a thinking liquid and a wonky transporter that tries to gobble up Casker. With a mix of dark humor and inventive storytelling, the duo learns that alien life is vastly different than Earth, resulting in ironic conclusions about survival when encountering alien life.