The Inhabited

The Inhabited is a science fiction novella by Richard Wilson, written in the early 1950s. It follows an extraterrestrial traveler sent to Earth by a dying race in search of a new world for habitation. The alien, who inhabits various beings including a cat and humans, grapples with identity and control, ultimately becoming trapped in the mind of a mentally ill man named Mersey. The story explores themes of empathy, existence, and the cost of survival for both the alien and the civilizations it encounters.