Andromeda (A Space-Age Tale) вк-1

by Ivan Yefremov

  “We have long since given up petty economies when it comes to the solution of great problems or the employment of our productive forces and have abandoned the tendency to utilitarian adaptation typical of the old economic system. Problems that arise during the reconstruction of production processes or during research are solved on a grand scale. Even today, however, the moment of success is sometimes incorrectly understood because there are people who forget that the laws of development are immutable. It seems to them that progress must be endless….

  “The wisdom of a leader lies in his ability to recognize the highest permissible level at a given stage and in his ability to stop, wait or change his course. Mven Mass has proved incapable of such leadership. The Council made a wrong choice and the Council are as much responsible as the man they selected. In the first place I am at fault myself, since I supported the proposal of two members of the Council to invite Mven Mass for the post.

  “I propose that the Council exonerate Mven Mass as having acted from the highest motives but forbid him to occupy any post in the governing bodies of the planet. I should also be removed from my position as President of the Council and sent to make good the damage done by my unfortunate selection — I should help build the new satellite.”

  Grom Orme cast a glance round the hall and saw the sincere regret expressed on many faces. The people of the Great Circle Era, however, did not try to persuade one another but respected other people’s decisions and trusted to their correctness.

  Mir Ohm discussed the matter with the other members of the Council and the calculating machine announced the result of the voting. Grom Orme’s proposal was accepted without dissension but with the proviso that he conduct the present meeting to the end of the session.

  He bowed and his face, controlled by his iron will, did not change its expression.

  “I must now explain my reason for postponing the discussion of the Cosmic Expedition,” continued the President in a calm voice. “It was obvious that the matter would end favourably and I think the Control of Honour and Justice will agree with us. I may now ask Mven Mass to take his seat in the Council as we are faced with a serious discussion. His knowledge is essential to us for the correct solution of our problems, especially as Erg Noor cannot participate in today’s discussion.”

  Mven Mass walked over to the Council seats and green lights of good-will flashed up all over the hall, lighting his way.

  The maps of the planets moved noiselessly aside and their place was taken by grim black charts with the stars shown in coloured lights, the blue lines of the interstellar routes proposed for the next century linking them up. The President of the Council was a changed man. His cold passionless attitude had vanished, a warm glow lit up his greyish cheeks, his steel-grey eyes grew darker. Grom Orme mounted the rostrum.

  “Every Cosmic expedition is a long-cherished dream; it is a new hope that is carefully nurtured for many years, it is another step upward in the great ascent. It is also the labour of millions of people for which there must be due recompense, a very substantial economic or scientific gain, otherwise our forward movement would cease and there would be no further victories over nature. That is why we enter into such detailed discussions and make such careful calculations before a new ship shoots off into interstellar space.

  “It was our duty to send out the 37th Cosmic Expedition to learn the fate of Zirda instead of continuing our own exploration. To compensate for this we have been able to discuss the 38th Expedition more thoroughly.

  “A number of events that occurred last year have brought changes that necessitate a re-examination of the route and objectives of the expedition that had been approved by previous Councils and by a planet-wide discussion. The discovery of methods of processing alloys under high pressure at absolute zero temperature gives us material of higher durability for the hulls of the ships. Anameson motors have been improved and are now more economical which, of course, increases the ship’s radius of activity. The spaceships Aella and Tintagelle that had been earmarked for the 38th Expedition are now out of date in comparison with the newly built Lebed, a round-hulled vessel of the vertical type with four stability keels. Longer flights are becoming possible.

  “Erg Noor, now back from the 37th Expedition, has informed us of his meeting with a black star of the T class, on whose planet his expedition discovered a spaceship of unknown construction. Efforts made to enter it nearly cost the whole party their lives but they managed to bring back a piece of the metal of its hull. It is a substance that we do not know, here on Earth, although it resembles the 14th isotope of silver discovered on the planets of the very hot Os class star long since known by the name of Zeta Carinae.

  “The spaceship is a disc, convex on both sides, with a crudely spiral surface, a design that has been discussed by the Academy of the Bounds of Knowledge.

  “Junius Antus has been through the information records of the Great Circle for the entire eight hundred years since we joined it. A spaceship of this type cannot be built by science and engineering that follow our line of development and are at our present level of knowledge. Such ships are unknown in those worlds of the Galaxy with whom we have exchanged information.

  “A disc spaceship of such gigantic proportions is undoubtedly a visitor from some inconceivably distant planet, perhaps, even, from some extragalactical world. It could have continued its journey millions of years after the death of its crew before landing on the planet of the iron star in our desert region on the fringe of the Galaxy.

  “There is no need for me to enlarge on the importance of a study of that ship by a special expedition to star T.”

  Grom Orme switched on the hemispherical screen and the hall disappeared. The records of the memory machines moved slowly across the screen.

  “This is a recently received communication from planet CR 519, I will omit the detailed coordinates for the sake of brevity, about their expedition to the Achernar system.”

  The positions of the stars seemed peculiar and even the most experienced eye could not recognize well-known heavenly bodies. The screen showed patches of dully luminous gas, dark clouds and, lastly, huge dead planets that reflected the light of a terrifically bright star.

  Achernar had a diameter only three and a half times that of our Sun but its luminosity was 280 times greater: it was an indescribably bright blue star belonging to spectral class B5. The spaceship that had made the record had travelled a long way to one side, dozens of years’ journey, perhaps.

  Another star appeared on the screen, a bright green star of class S. It grew in size, became brighter and brighter as the spaceship from another world drew nearer to it. The surface of a new planet then appeared. It showed a country of high mountains clothed in every possible shade of green. Deep canyons and steep slopes were marked by dark green, almost black shadows, the gentler slopes and valleys were bathed in greens in which a blue tint predominated, the snow on the mountain tops and high plateaux was aquamarine and there were also patches of yellowish green where the sun had scorched the earth. Rivers the colour of malachite ran down slopes to lakes and seas hidden beyond the mountains.

  Next came a plain dotted with round hills that stretched as far as a sea that from a distance looked like a gleaming sheet of green iron. Blue trees carried masses of dense foliage and the glades were bright with purple strips and patches of unknown bushes and grasses. Gold-green rays came in a mighty stream from the amethyst heavens. The earthlings were dazzled by the beauty of the planet. Mven Mass searched his encyclopaedic memory for the exact coordinates of the green star.

  “Achernar is Alpha Eridani, it is high up in the southern sky not far from Tucana… distance — 21 parsecs… the return of a spaceship with the same crew ia impossible,” were the thoughts that flashed through his mind.

  The screen was switched off and the sight of the closed hall, adapted for contemplation and conferences by Earth-dwellers, seemed suddenly strange to behold.

  “That green star,” the voice
of the President continued, “with an abundance of zirconium in its spectrum, is slightly larger than our Sun.” Here Grom Orme gave the coordinates of the zirconium star very rapidly.

  “There are two planets in its system,” he continued. “They are twins revolving opposite each other at a distance from the star that ensures them about the same amount of energy as Earth receives from the Sun.

  “The depth and composition of the atmosphere and the amount of water are similar to those of Earth. These are the preliminary data obtained by the expedition sent out from planet CR 519. The same report speaks of the absence of intelligent life on the twin planets. Higher forms of intelligent life transform nature to such an extent that it is visible even from a spaceship flying at a great height. We must assume that higher forms of life have not been able to develop or have not yet developed there. This is unusually favourable to us. If there were higher forms of life there the planets would be closed to us. In year 72 of the Great Circle Era, over seven centuries ago, our world discussed the question of settling a planet with higher forms of intelligent life even if they had not reached our level of civilization. It was then decided that any invasion of such a planet would only lead to acts of violence due to the profoundest misunderstandings.

  “We now know how great is the diversity of worlds in our Galaxy. There are blue, green, yellow, white, red and orange stars; they are all of the hydrogen-helium type but their mantles and cores are of different composition — carbon, cyanogen, titanium, zirconium — and they have different kinds of radiation, high or low temperatures and atmospheres of different composition. There are planets whose volume, density, depth and composition of atmosphere and hydrosphere, distance from their sun, conditions of rotation all differ very greatly. We also know that our planet, with water covering seventy per cent of its surface in combination with its proximity to a sun that pours a tremendous amount of energy on to it, enjoys conditions favouring the development of powerful living organisms, a rich variety of biological forms that are undergoing constant transformation, a case that is not often met with in the Universe.

  “Life on our planet, therefore, developed more quickly than in other worlds where it is hampered by a shortage of water or solar energy or by insufficient dry land. And more quickly, too, than on the planets that have too much water! In the Circle transmissions we have seen the evolution of life on the planets that are under water, life that is crawling desperately upwards on stems of plants sticking out of the water.

  “Our planet also has large expanses of water and the area of the continents is relatively small for the accumulation of solar energy through food plants, trees or simply by means of thermoelectric installations.

  “In the earliest periods of Earth’s history life developed more slowly in the swamps of the low-lying continents of the Palaeozoic Era than it did on the high land of the Cainozoic where there was a struggle for water as well as for food.

  “We know that for an abundant and powerful life there must be a certain ratio of land to water and our planet is very close to the optimum in its composition. There are not many such planets in the Cosmos and every one of them is an invaluable acquisition for mankind as new land where man can settle and continue to develop.

  “Man has long since ceased to fear the catastrophic over-population that at one time greatly disturbed our distant ancestors, but still we persist in our exploration of the Cosmos, extending the region settled by our people, for this, too, is progress, this, too, is an unavoidable law of development. So great are the difficulties involved in settling on a planet with physical properties differing from those of Earth that there have long been projects in existence to settle man in the Cosmos on gigantic, specially constructed installations, something like our artificial satellites magnified many times over. You will remember that an island of this type was built on the eve of the Great Circle Era, Nadir, situated more than 18 million kilometres from Earth. A small colony of people still live there but the failure of such closely confined and restricted quarters to satisfy the needs of human life if it is to spread boldly throughout the Cosmos is so obvious that we can only express amazement at our ancestors even though we admire the audacity of their engineering.

  “The twin planets of the green zirconium star are very similar to ours. They are unsuitable or difficult to settle for the fragile inhabitants of planet CR 519 who discovered them and passed the information on to us in the same way as we pass our discoveries on to them.

  “The green star is situated at a greater distance from our planet than any spaceship has yet covered. If we reach the planets of that star we shall have moved far out into the Universe. We shall move forward, not on the tiny world of an artificial island but on big planets where there is every opportunity for the organization of comfortable life and for mighty technical achievements.

  “You now see why I have taken up so much of your time with a detailed description of the planets of the green star — they seem to me to be important objectives for exploration. The distance of seventy light years is feasible for a spaceship of the Lebed type and I think that we should, perhaps, send the 38th Cosmic Expedition to Achernar?”

  Grom Orme finished at that point and returned to his place, pushing over a switch on the rostrum as he did so.

  A small screen rose up before the audience and on it appeared the head and shoulders of Darr Veter, a massive figure known to many of those present. The former Director of the Outer Stations smiled as he was silently greeted with flashing green lights.

  “Darr Veter is now in the Arizona Radioactive Desert from where he is sending groups of rockets 57,000 kilometres into space to build a satellite,” explained Grom Orme. “He wishes to speak and give his opinion as a member of the Council.”

  “I propose the simplest possible solution,” came his jolly voice to which the portable transmitter had added some metallic tones. “We should send out three expeditions and not just one!”

  The members of the Council and the visitors were taken completely by surprise. Darr Veter was no orator and did not take advantage of the effective pause.

  “Our first plan was to send both spaceships of the 38th Expedition to the triple star EE7723….”

  Mven Mass immediately pictured the triple star that had been known as Omicron 2 Eridani in olden times. It was situated less than five parsecs from the Sun and was a system of yellow, blue and red stars with two lifeless planets which in themselves were of no interest. The blue star in this system was a white dwarf as big as one of the larger planets but with a mass half that of the Sun. The average specific weight of matter in that star was 2,500 times greater than of Earth’s heaviest metal, iridium.

  Gravitation, electromagnetic fields, thermal processes and the creation of heavy chemical elements on that star were of colossal interest and the importance of studying them at close quarters was very great, especially as the 10th Cosmic Expedition that had been sent to Sirius had been lost but had managed to send a warning of the danger. Sirius, a double blue star and near neighbour of the Sun, also possessed a white dwarf of lower temperature and larger dimensions than Omicron 2 Eridani and with a density twenty-five times that of water. It proved impossible to reach this near star owing to gigantic streams of meteorites crossing each other and encircling the star; they were so widely dispersed that it was found impossible to determine the area over which these treacherous fragments were spread. It was then that the expedition to Omicron 2 Eridani had first been mooted, 315 years before….

  “… now, after the experiment made by Mven Mass and Renn Bose, it is of such importance that it cannot be rejected.

  “But then, the study of a strange spaceship from a far distant world may give us knowledge that will by far exceed that acquired at the first examination.

  “We may ignore former safety regulations and send the ships out separately. Aella can be sent to Omicron 2 Eridani and Tintagelle to star T. They are both first class spaceships like Tantra that managed alone against overwhelming od
ds.”

  “Romanticism!” said Pour Hyss loudly and unceremoniously but cringed in his seat when he noticed the disapproval of the audience.

  “Yes, it is, it’s genuine romanticism!” exclaimed Darr Veter, jauntily. "The very romanticism that was not properly appreciated in the past when it was killed by literature, education and experience. Romanticism is nature’s luxury but in a well-ordered society it is indispensable! A craving for something new, for frequent changes, is engendered in every person by a superfluity of physical and spiritual strength. From this emerges a particular attitude to the phenomena of life, a desire to see more than the even tread of humdrum everyday existence, the expectation that life will provide a greater quota of trials and impressions.

  “I can see Evda Nahl in the hall,” continued Darr Veter, “and she’ll tell you that romanticism is not only psychology but physiology as well! It is the task of our epoch to make romanticists of all the inhabitants of the planet. But let me continue: let us send the new spaceship Lebed to Achernar, to the green star, because we shall only know the result in a hundred and seventy years’ time. Grom Orme is right in saying that the exploration of similar planets and the establishment of bases for advance into the Cosmos is our duty to posterity.”

  “We have anameson supplies for two ships only,” objected Mir Ohm, the Council Secretary. “It will take ten years to build up supplies for a third ship without interfering with our economy. I must also remind you that a large part of our production potential is going into the restoration of the satellite.”

  “I have foreseen all that,” answered Darr Veter, “and propose, if the Economic Council will agree, to appeal to the population of the planet. Let everybody abandon all pleasure trips and holiday journeys for one year, let us switch off the television cameras in our aquariums and in the ocean depths, let us stop bringing precious stones and rare plants from Venus and Mars and stop the factories producing clothing and ornaments. The Economic Council can tell you better than I what must be stopped in order to economize energy to make anameson. Which of us would refuse to curtail his needs for one year only in order to make a wonderful gift to our children — two new planets in the vitalizing rays of a green sun so pleasant to terrestrial eyes!”