The Deep (short story)

Infobox Short story |
name = The Deep
author = Isaac Asimov
country = United States
language = English
genre = science fiction short story
published_in = "Galaxy Science Fiction"
publisher = World Editions
media_type = Magazine
pub_date = December 1952

"The Deep" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was written in July 1952 and first published in the December 1952 issue of "Galaxy Science Fiction". The story subsequently appeared in the Asimov collections "The Martian Way and Other Stories" (1955) and "The Best of Isaac Asimov" (1973). In "In Memory Yet Green", Asimov wrote that his motive in writing the story was to deliberately test whether one could do "anything" in science fiction, so he invented a society in which mother love was considered obscene.

The Race is a technologically advanced alien society with telepathic abilities that lives underground on a planet with rapidly depleting energy resources. The aliens decide to teleport themselves to a new planet, which happens to be Earth. A sentry sent by The Race to establish a teleport on Earth suffers shock when exposed to unfamiliar aspects of human life, including maternal bonding, weather changes, and the inability to communicate telepathically. In "The Best of Isaac Asimov" Asimov refers to it as the "sleeper" of the collection, which generated very little response, despite being well liked by Asimov.