Ivan Yefremov
Andromeda
A Space-Age Tale
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PUBLISHING HOUSE
MOSCOW 1959
Иван Ефремов
Туманность Андромеды
(Научно-фантастический роман)
ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ НА ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКАХ
МОСКВА
Translated from the Russian by George Hanna
Designed by N. Grishin
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. THE IRON STAR
CHAPTER 2. EPSILON TUCANAE
CHAPTER 3. CAPTIVES OF THE DARK
CHAPTER 4. THE RIVER OF TIME
CHAPTER 5. THE HORSE ON THE SEA BED
CHAPTER 6. THE LEGEND OF THE BLUE SUNS
CHAPTER 7. SYMPHONY IN F-MINOR, COLOUR TONE 4.75,u
CHAPTER 8. RED WAVES
CHAPTER 9. A THIRD CYCLE SCHOOL
CHAPTER 10. TIBETAN EXPERIMENT
CHAPTER 11. THE ISLAND OF OBLIVION
CHAPTER 12. THE ASTRONAUTICAL COUNCIL
CHAPTER 13. ANGELS OF HEAVEN
CHAPTER 14. THE STEEL DOOR
CHAPTER 15. THE ANDROMEDA NEBULA
CHARACTERS IN THE STORY
MEMBERS OF COSMIC EXPEDITION No. 37 IN THE SPACESHIP TANTRA
Men: Erg Noor, Commander of the Expedition
Pour Hyss, astronomer
Eon Thal, biologist
Pel Lynn, astronavigator
Taron, mechanical engineer
Kay Bear, electronic engineer
Women: Nisa Greet, astronavigator
Louma Lasvy, ship’s physician
Ingrid Dietra, astronomer
Beena Ledd, geologist
Ione Marr, teacher of gymnastics, storekeeper
CHARACTERS ON EARTH:
Men: Grom Orme, President of the Astronautical Council
Diss Ken, his son
Thor Ann, son of Zieg Zohr, Ken’s friend
Mir Ohm, Secretary of the Astronautical Council
Darr Veter, retiring Director of the Outer Stations
Mven Mass, successor to Darr Veter
Junius Antus, Director of the Electronic Memory Machines
Kam Amat, Indian scientist (In a former age)
Liao Lang, palaeontologist
Renn Bose, physicist
Cart Sann, painter
Frith Don, Director of the Maritime Archaeological Expedition
Sherliss, mechanic to the expedition
Ahf Noot, prominent surgeon
Grimm Schar, biologist of the Institute of Nerve Currents
Zann Senn, poet-historian
Heb Uhr, soil scientist
Beth Lohn, mathematician, criminal in exile
Embe Ong, candidate for Director of the Outer Stations
Cadd Lite, engineer on Satellite 57
Women: Evda Nahl, psychiatrist Rhea, her daughter Veda Kong, historian
Miyiko Eigoro, historian, Veda’s assistant
Chara Nandi, biologist, dancer, artist’s model
Onar. girl of the Island of Oblivion
Eva Djann, astronomer
Liuda Pheer, psychologist (in a former age)
EXTRATERRESTRIAL CHARACTERS:
Goor Hahn, observer on the diurnal satellite
Zaph Phthet, Director of External Relations of the planet of 61 Cygni
CHAPTER ONE
THE IRON STAR
In the faint light emitted by the helical tube on the ceiling the rows of dials on the instrument panels had the appearance of a portrait gallery — the round dials had jovial faces, the recumbent oval physiognomies were impudently self-satisfied and the square mugs were immobile in their stupid complacency. The light- and dark-blue, orange and green lights flickering inside the instruments served to intensify the impression.
A big dial, glowing dull red, gazed out from the middle of the convex control desk. The girl in front of it had forgotten her chair and stood with her head bowed, her brow almost touching the glass, in the attitude of one in prayer. The red glow made her youthful face older and sterner, cast clear-cut shadows round her full lips and even made her slightly snub nose look pointed. Her thick eyebrows, knitted in a frown, looked jet black in that light and gave her eyes the expression of despair seen in the eyes of the doomed.
The faint hum of the meters was interrupted by a soft metallic click. The girl started and raised her head, straightening her tired back.
The door opened behind her, a big shadow appeared and turned into a man with abrupt and precise movements. A flood of golden light sprang up, making the girl’s thick, dark-auburn hair sparkle like gold. She turned to the newcomer with a look that told both of her love for him and of her anxiety.
“Why aren’t you sleeping? A hundred sleepless hours!”
“A bad example, eh?” There was a note of gaiety in his voice but he did not smile; it was a voice marked by high metallic notes that seemed to rivet his words together.
“The others are all asleep,” the girl began timidly. “and… don’t know anything…” she added, whispering instinctively.
“Don’t be afraid to speak. Everybody else is asleep, we’re the only two awake in the Cosmos and it’s fifty billion[1] kilometres to Earth — a mere parsec[2] and a half!”
“And we’ve got fuel for just one acceleration!” There was fascinated horror in the girl’s exclamation.
In two rapid strides Erg Noor, Commander of Cosmic Expedition No. 37, reached the glowing dial.
“The fifth circle!”
“Yes, we’ve entered the fifth… and… still nothing.” The girl cast an eloquent glance at the loudspeaker of the automatic receiver.
“And so I have no right to sleep, as you see. I have to think over all the variants and all the possibilities. We must find a solution by the end of the fifth circle.”
“But that’s another hundred and ten hours.”
“All right, I’ll go to sleep in the armchair here as soon as the effect of the sporamin[3] wears off. I took it twenty-four hours ago.”
The girl stood deep in thought for a time but at last decided to speak.
“Perhaps we should decrease the radius of the circle? Suppose something’s gone wrong with their transmitter?”
“Certainly not! If you reduce the radius without reducing speed you’ll break up the ship. If you reduce speed you’ll be left without anameson[4]… with a parsec and a half to go at the speed of the ancient lunar rockets! At that rate we’d get somewhere near our solar system in about a hundred thousand years.”
“I know that. But couldn’t they…”
“No, they couldn’t. Aeons ago people could be careless or could deceive each other and themselves. But not today!”
“That’s not what I wanted to say.” The sharpness of her retort showed that the girl was offended. “I was going to say that Algrab may have deviated from its course looking for us.”
“It couldn’t have deviated so much. It must have left at the time computed and agreed on. If the improbable had happened and both transmitters had been put out of action it would have had to cross the circle diametrically and we should have heard it on the planetary receiver.
There’s no possibility of a mistake — there it is, the rendezvous planet.”
Erg Noor pointed to the mirror screens in deep niches on all four sides of the control tower. Countless stars burned in the profound blackness. A tiny grey disc, barely illuminated by a sun very far away from them, from the outer edge of the system B-7336-S+87-A, was crossing the forward port screen.
“Our bomb beacons[5] are working well although we put them up four independent years[6] “ ago.” Erg Noor pointed to a clear-cut line of light running along a glass panel that stretched the whole length of the left-hand wall. “Algrab should have been here three months ago. That means,”
2
Parsec — the unit of measure of astronomical distance, equal to 3.26 light years or 32×1012 km.
3
Sporamin — a drug to maintain the organism active over long periods without sleep (imaginary).
4
Anameson — atomic fuel in which the meson bonds of the nucleus have been disrupted; it has an exhaust velocity equal to the speed of light (imaginary).
5
Bomb Beacons — automatic radio robots transmitting signals powerful enough to penetrate the atmosphere of a planet. They were dropped from the spaceships for reconnaissance purposes (imaginary).
6
Independent Year — a terrestrial year that is Independent of the speed of the spaceship.