“Maybe I really am a plant… Maybe I always was.” — Philip K. Dick When soldiers returning from a remote asteroid begin to insist they are not men, but plants, army psychiatrist Dr. Henry Harris is assigned to uncover the truth. What he discovers challenges the boundaries between reality and delusion, mind and identity, human and something... other. In Piper in the Woods, Philip K. Dick weaves a surreal psychological mystery set in a future where space exploration comes with unseen mental tolls. As Harris delves deeper into the patients’ claims, he must confront the possibility that their strange beliefs may not be madness —but escape. A quietly chilling tale of identity, autonomy, and the hidden desire to disconnect from the pressures of modern life, this short story is classic Dick: provocative, prescient, and disturbingly plausible.