Read Online The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke by Arthur C. Clarke - Free Book Online
Authors: Arthur C. Clarke
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experiments, in accordance with our wishes. This is as unexpected as it is welcome. Even if they are trying to deceive us, we are perfectly safe now that we have established the second station just outside the atmosphere. They cannot possibly develop spaceships without our seeing them or detecting their tube radiation.
The watch on Earth will be continued rigorously, as instructed.
Trescon.
From: C.B.E.P.S.
To: President.
Yes, it is quite true that there have been no further rocket experiments in the last ten years. We certainly did not expect Earth to capitulate so easily!
I agree that the existence of this race now constitutes a permanent threat to our civilisation and we are making experiments along the lines you suggest. The problem is a difficult one, owing to the great size of the planet. Explosives would be out of the question, and a radioactive poison of some kind appears to offer the greatest hope of success.
Fortunately, we now have an indefinite time in which to complete this research, and I will report regularly.
Ranthe.
[End of Document]
From: Lieutenant Commander Henry Forbes, Intelligence Branch, Special Space Corps.
To: Professor S. Maxton, Philogical Department, University of Oxford.
Route: Transender II (via Schenectady).
The above papers, with others, were found in the ruins of what is believed to be the capital Martian city. (Mars Grid KL302895.) The frequent use of the ideograph for ‘Earth’ suggests that they may be of special interest and it is hoped that they can be translated. Other papers will be following shortly.
H. Forbes, Lt/Cdr.
[Added in manuscript]
Dear Max,
Sorry I’ve had no time to contact you before. I’ll be seeing you as soon as I get back to Earth.
Gosh! Mars is in a mess! Our Co-ordinates were dead accurate and the bombs materialised right over their cities, just as the Mount Wilson boys predicted.
We’re sending a lot of stuff back through the two small machines, but until the big transmitter is materialised we’re rather restricted, and, of course, none of us can return. So hurry up with it!
I’m glad we can get to work on rockets again. I may be old-fashioned, but being squirted through space at the speed of light doesn’t appeal to me!
Yours in haste,
Henry.
Rescue Party
First published in Astounding Science-Fiction , May 1946
Collected in Reach for Tomorrow
This story stems form a lost original which also inspired ‘History Lesson’ (1949), although it would be difficult to find two more contrasting endings.
Who was to blame? For three days Alveron’s thoughts had come back to that question, and still he had found no answer. A creature of a less civilised or a less sensitive race would never have let it torture his mind, and would have satisfied himself with the assurance that no one could be responsible for the working of fate. But Alveron and his kind had been lords of the Universe since the dawn of history, since that far distant age when the Time Barrier had been folded round the cosmos by the unknown powers that lay beyond the Beginning. To them had been given all knowledge—and within infinite knowledge went infinite responsibility. If there were mistakes and errors in the administration of the galaxy, the fault lay on the heads of Alveron and his people. And this was no mere mistake: it was one of the greatest tragedies in history.
The crew still knew nothing. Even Rugon, his closest friend and the ship’s deputy captain, had been told only part of the truth. But now the doomed worlds lay less than a billion miles ahead. In a few hours, they would be landing on the third planet.
Once again Alveron read the message from Base; then, with a flick of a tentacle that no human eye could have followed, he pressed the ‘General Attention’ button. Throughout the mile-long cylinder that was the Galactic Survey Ship S9000, creatures of many races laid down their work to listen to the words of their captain.
‘I know you have all been
The watch on Earth will be continued rigorously, as instructed.
Trescon.
From: C.B.E.P.S.
To: President.
Yes, it is quite true that there have been no further rocket experiments in the last ten years. We certainly did not expect Earth to capitulate so easily!
I agree that the existence of this race now constitutes a permanent threat to our civilisation and we are making experiments along the lines you suggest. The problem is a difficult one, owing to the great size of the planet. Explosives would be out of the question, and a radioactive poison of some kind appears to offer the greatest hope of success.
Fortunately, we now have an indefinite time in which to complete this research, and I will report regularly.
Ranthe.
[End of Document]
From: Lieutenant Commander Henry Forbes, Intelligence Branch, Special Space Corps.
To: Professor S. Maxton, Philogical Department, University of Oxford.
Route: Transender II (via Schenectady).
The above papers, with others, were found in the ruins of what is believed to be the capital Martian city. (Mars Grid KL302895.) The frequent use of the ideograph for ‘Earth’ suggests that they may be of special interest and it is hoped that they can be translated. Other papers will be following shortly.
H. Forbes, Lt/Cdr.
[Added in manuscript]
Dear Max,
Sorry I’ve had no time to contact you before. I’ll be seeing you as soon as I get back to Earth.
Gosh! Mars is in a mess! Our Co-ordinates were dead accurate and the bombs materialised right over their cities, just as the Mount Wilson boys predicted.
We’re sending a lot of stuff back through the two small machines, but until the big transmitter is materialised we’re rather restricted, and, of course, none of us can return. So hurry up with it!
I’m glad we can get to work on rockets again. I may be old-fashioned, but being squirted through space at the speed of light doesn’t appeal to me!
Yours in haste,
Henry.
Rescue Party
First published in Astounding Science-Fiction , May 1946
Collected in Reach for Tomorrow
This story stems form a lost original which also inspired ‘History Lesson’ (1949), although it would be difficult to find two more contrasting endings.
Who was to blame? For three days Alveron’s thoughts had come back to that question, and still he had found no answer. A creature of a less civilised or a less sensitive race would never have let it torture his mind, and would have satisfied himself with the assurance that no one could be responsible for the working of fate. But Alveron and his kind had been lords of the Universe since the dawn of history, since that far distant age when the Time Barrier had been folded round the cosmos by the unknown powers that lay beyond the Beginning. To them had been given all knowledge—and within infinite knowledge went infinite responsibility. If there were mistakes and errors in the administration of the galaxy, the fault lay on the heads of Alveron and his people. And this was no mere mistake: it was one of the greatest tragedies in history.
The crew still knew nothing. Even Rugon, his closest friend and the ship’s deputy captain, had been told only part of the truth. But now the doomed worlds lay less than a billion miles ahead. In a few hours, they would be landing on the third planet.
Once again Alveron read the message from Base; then, with a flick of a tentacle that no human eye could have followed, he pressed the ‘General Attention’ button. Throughout the mile-long cylinder that was the Galactic Survey Ship S9000, creatures of many races laid down their work to listen to the words of their captain.
‘I know you have all been
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