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Authors: Stanislaw Lem

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BOOK: The Invincible
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So far excavation had struck no deeper than a shallow level of rock formation, whose complicated geological structure confused even the most experienced of the planetologists. Once they had driven shafts down to the basalt base—itself indubitably more than a billion years old—they discovered that the deposits immediately above contained carbon of organic origin which showed highly advanced stages of recrystallization. At first the scientists believed this layer to have been the original ocean bed. But then they came upon true coal beds with fossils of a large variety of plant species that could only have existed on the dry land. Little by little they gained a clearer picture of the life forms that had existed at that time on the continent of Regis III. Thus they learned that primitive reptiles had once roamed in the primeval jungle, some three hundred million years earlier. Indeed, they returned in triumph one day with the remains of a reptile’s spinal column and the jawbone, though the crew showed little enthusiasm about these finds. Apparently, evolution had taken place twice in the dry land areas. The first extinction of all life occurred in an epoch about one hundred million years back. At that time all plant and animal life seemed to have died out suddenly; the most probable cause would have been the nearby Nova explosion. However, life had developed again after this catastrophe; new forms, new species had arisen. Unfortunately, no exact system of classification could be established by the scientists; the available data were not sufficiently comprehensive. Yet they were positive that no mammals had ever evolved on this planet. Some ninety million years later, a second star explosion had occurred, but this time at a far greater distance from Regis III. This event could be traced by isotopes. According to the approximate values calculated, the intensity of surface radiation was not strong enough to have caused such enormous losses of life. And yet—even more puzzling—from this point on, plant and animal fossils were less and less frequently seen in the rock formations. Instead, the scientists found pressed “clay,” antimony sulfides, molybdenum and iron oxides, salts of nickel, cobalt and titanium in increasingly larger quantities.

There were strong centers within the six- to eight-million-year-old metalliferous strata which were found relatively close to the surface; but this radioactivity was comparatively short-lived considering the age of the planet. During that period something seemed to have unchained a series of violent, localized nuclear reactions, whose products were deposited in these “metalline clay-layers.” Besides the hypothesis of the “radioactive iron meteor,” other, most fantastic assumptions were advanced, attempting to establish some connection between the strange centers of radioactive “hot spots” and the annihilation of the planetary system of the Lyre and the extinction of its civilization.

It was suggested that atomic battles might have taken place on Regis III among the spaceships escaping their threatened planetary home system. Yet this did not explain the extent of the metalliferous strata, which were discovered in other more remote excavation sites as well. From all these various data a mysterious yet plausible picture emerged: life on the planet’s continents had become extinct during the same span of millions of years during which the metalline deposits had been formed. Radioactivity could not have been the cause of the destruction of all living things. They had made calculations and converted the general amount of radiation into equivalents of nuclear explosions. This amounted to twenty to thirty megatons. Distributed over a period of hundreds of thousands of years, such explosions—if these had in fact been atomic explosions and not some other kind of nuclear reactions—could not, of course, have seriously endangered the evolution of biological forms.

Since the scientists suspected some connection between these deposits and the ruins of the “city,” they insisted on continuing with their research, but this required that considerable amounts of debris be cleared away before they could begin prospecting. The only solution was to dig underground shafts; but those who worked below the surface would no longer be able to enjoy the protection of the force fields. The scale was tipped when—at a depth of about twenty yards—a layer rich in iron oxides was found to contain rusty metal parts of a most curious shape that looked like the corroded remnant of tiny mechanisms. At this point the scientists decided to carry on even without the protective energy field.

On the nineteenth day after they had landed on Regis III, dark, dense cloud formations, unlike any they had observed before, gathered over the area where the excavation unit was working. Toward noon a violent thunderstorm broke out that surpassed any electrical storm ever seen on Earth. Sky and mountain merged in the unceasing blinding flashes of lightning. The brooks turned into torrents that rushed down the winding ravines and flooded the excavation site. The men ran for shelter under the dome of the big energy field. Mile-long lightning bolts repeatedly struck the hull of the protective dome. Finally, the thunderstorm moved slowly off to the west, and the entire horizon above the ocean was soon a single black wall ripped by constant lightning.

On the way back to the
Invincible
the prospecting detail discovered vast numbers of tiny black metal drops in the sand. Were these the ill-famed “flies”? The men gathered them up very cautiously and took them along to the spaceship, where they aroused great interest among the scientists. However, there was no possibility whatsoever that the drops were the remains of insects. Again there were consultations among the experts, frequently resulting in violent controversies. In the end it was decided to send an expedition toward the northeast, beyond the labyrinth of ravines and the areas of iron oxide deposits, because some new discoveries had been made on the caterpillar chains of the
Condor
vehicles: they had found traces of minerals that had not been seen in any of the terrains that had been examined so far.

The next day, twenty-two men climbed into their vehicles. As soon as sufficient stores of oxygen, food and nuclear fuel had been packed away the column began to move. The group was well equipped energo-robots, the self-mobile mortar from the
Condor,
transporters and robots (among them twelve Arctanes), automated dredging machines and rock drills. Regnar was in charge of the expedition. Radio and television contact was maintained with the column until the planet’s curved surface made the further use of ultra-short waves impossible. Then the
Invincible
launched an automatic teleprobe into a stationary orbit, over which communication could be maintained.

All that day the column continued to advance. At nightfall the vehicles and machines formed a defense circle and surrounded themselves with a force field.

The following morning they continued on their way. Toward noon, Regnar informed Rohan that he wanted to stop at the foot of some sand-covered ruins inside a shallow crater in order to inspect them at closer range. One hour later, the reception became very bad because of strong static disturbances. The communication crew switched to another wave length for better reception. Soon afterwards the reception suddenly broke off altogether, just as the thunder died away and the storm moved off into the direction the expedition had taken. The breakdown in communication had been preceded by several episodes of fading that increased in length and strength. Most peculiar, however, was the fact that at the same time TV reception had become worse, even though it was independant of conditions in the ionosphere, as it emanated from a satellite circling beyond the atmosphere. It was about one o’clock when all communication ceased. No technician, none of the physicists called in for consultation, could explain this phenomenon. It was as if a metal wall had descended somewhere in the desert to cut off the expedition from the
Invincible.

All this time Rohan had kept close to the astrogator, who seemed quite apprehensive. At first Rohan believed there was no justification for the commander’s attitude. The weather front that had moved off in exactly the same direction as the expedition might have certain definite screening properties. The physicists, however, doubted that such a thick layer of ionized air could possibly come about. When the thunderstorm had completely died down and it was still impossible to re-establish communication, even after sending nonstop call signals, Horpach dispatched two scouting planes of the flying saucer type. It was close to six o’clock in the evening.

One of the flying saucers flew a few hundred yards above the desert. The other rose to an altitude of two and one-half miles, serving as a television transmitter station to its lower flying companion. Rohan, the astrogator, Gralew and a dozen other men, including Ballmin and Sax, stood in front of the big telescreen in the command center, viewing directly whatever happened inside the visual field of the first machine’s pilot. Beyond the dark labyrinth of ravines stretched the desert with its endless chains of dunes, now covered by black stripes, for it was close to sunset. The oblique rays of the setting sun cast the landscape in a mournful light. Small craters, filled to the rim with sand, slipped by underneath the low-flying machine from time to time. Some craters had remained visible only because of the central cone of a volcano extinguished for many centuries. The terrain rose gradually and became increasingly diversified. Amid the sandy hills high rocky ridges jutted out, forming an entire system of oddly jagged mountain chains. Lone stone needles resembled the bodies of smashed rockets or of some gigantic figures. Crevices, filled by cone-shaped formations of boulders and rubble, cut the slopes with their sharp outlines. Finally the sand disappeared altogether and gave way to a wilderness of steep rocks and rubble heaps. Here and there tectonic fissures wound through the planet’s crust. From a distance they resembled meandering rivers. The landscape now resembled that on the Earth’s moon. Suddenly the television reception grew worse once again. The image became blurred and synchronization was disrupted. All efforts at correction were in vain.

Now the whitish coloration of the rocks turned into ever darkening shades. The high-rising rocky ridges that moved away from the immediate view were brownish and covered by a poisonous and metallic glitter. Velvety black spots occurred here and there, as if a dense dead scrub proliferated over the bare stones.

A call came from the first machine, which had remained silent thus far. The pilot reported that he could hear the automatic position transmitters with which the lead vehicle of the expedition had been equipped. Yet the men assembled in the command center could hear only the pilot’s weak and fading voice, calling Regnar’s group.

The sun was lowering in the sky, which glowed in rich crimson hues. A black wall reared up against this red backdrop in front of the machine. The wall seemed to consist of many cloud-like yet solid strata that reached from the rocky ground to a height of one thousand yards. Everything behind it was now hidden from view. If this dark conglomeration of partially inky-blue and partially metallic purplish shimmering clusters had not moved up and down, slowly and rhythmically, one could have taken it for an unusual formation of mountains.

Now the sun rays struck the wall in near horizontal lines. Below them caves opened up revealing sudden flashes of light coming from inside. The gaps in the wall appeared to be filled with furiously dancing swarms of sparkling black iron crystals. At first the men in front of the picture tube had the impression that the cloud was advancing toward the approaching machine; but this was an optical illusion. Only the flying saucer was moving with constant speed, flying straight toward the strange obstacle in its path.

“KU-4 to ground station. Shall I fly above the cloud? Over,” sounded the muffled voice of the pilot.

“Commander in chief to KU-4. Stop in front of cloud!” came the astrogator’s reply after a fraction of a second.

“KU-4 to ground station. Stopping before cloud,” confirmed the pilot at once and Rohan thought that his voice sounded rather relieved. Just a few hundred yards separated the machine from the strange formation that had begun to fork out, each prong diminishing in breadth toward the end; they seemed to stretch as far as the horizon. Now the entire screen in the command center was filled by the gigantic, pitch black mass of the vertical surface of this improbable ocean. The flying saucer no longer moved in the direction of the black wall. Suddenly, before anyone could even utter a sound, bolts of lightning shot out in all directions from the slowly heaving mass. The image on the screen grew dark, vanished to a small point, then again lit up, flickering once more, rent apart by the lines of weak electrical discharges, and finally disappearing completely,

“KU-4, KU-4,” called the operator.

“Here KU-8,” suddenly reported the pilot of the second craft, that had functioned all this time as the relay station for the first flying saucer.

“KU-8 to ground station. Shall I start televising directly? Over.”

“Ground station to KU-8. Start televising directly!”

The big videoscreen in the command center was now covered by wildly whirling black currents. It was the same picture but this time seen from a height of two and one-half miles. Now it could be observed that the black mass formed one immensely long cloud bank that rested against the towering ring of mountains, as if it intended to block the way to this region. The surface of the black wall moved along sluggishly like some congealed, viscous mass. No trace could be detected of the first machine that had been swallowed by the dark substance.

“Ground station to KU-8. Are you receiving KU-4? Over.”

“KU-8 to ground station. Nothing from KU-4. Using interference waves. Calling KU-4! Calling KU-4, here KU-8! Come in, please! KU-4, KU-4!” the men heard the second pilot’s voice. “KU-4 does not reply. Proceeding to infrared waves. Calling KU-4! Here KU-8, come in, please! KU-4 does not reply. Using radar now to probe the black cloud wall.”

It grew absolutely still inside the darkened control center; not even the men’s breathing could be heard. The entire room was tense with expectation. There was no change on the screen; the men no longer looked at it. The rocky ridge jutted out above the black cloud, an island in an ocean of ink. High up in the sky gold-drenched cirrus clouds were fading away. The sun’s disk was already touching the horizon. In another few minutes, dusk would fall.

BOOK: The Invincible
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