INTRODUCTION
"Towards a New Sun" is the third and final part in three loosely connected stories, "Tales of Mars", written in 1924 and published in book form in 1925. While each story can be read on its own, we recommend reading the first two installments, "Professor Dagin's Observatory" and "Two Worlds" before this one.
1. Interplanecom Council Meeting. Ro-pa-ge's report. The decision must be immediately enforced!
[Author's note: Interplanecom: Interplanetary Communications][Translator's note: In Russian, "Mezhplaso"/"Межпласо", short for "Mezhplanetnykh Soobshieniy"/"Межпланетных сообщений". I used "Communications" for "сообщений" rather than "Messages" for the cleaner sounding abbreviated word.]
Across the entire sky, hanging in a cast-iron dome over the icy steel of the upper streets, the blue-emerald constellations were blazing brilliantly.
The planets were no longer visible. The light of the fading sun was insufficient in illuminating them. For a long time now, the day only differed from the night, in that during the day, among the constellations blazing in the black sky, a dull crimson solar disk appeared, mottled with smoky stripes.
The upper streets were long abandoned by the populace. Now a thick layer of ice lay there. It filled the entire metro, all the endless roofs of the upper structures, it hung from the viaducts like emerald stalactites and penetrated into the inner parts of the buildings.
Fleeing from the cold, people had left the upper dwellings and gone underground. There, all their lives' tremendous labor had been concentrated. This frantic pace of labor ignited a flame in the hearts of everyone. Everything personal was gladly and unquestioningly sacrificed for this labor.
Nothing like this has ever been known in the history of mankind.
In the large, round hall of the Interplanecom council, a government meeting was taking place.
Radio stenographs characteristically creaked, recording the speeches. Behind the stenographers, the glass-striped proofs were glittering. Continuously flashing inside of them were the words that composed the speeches. From these glass proofs, the speeches delivered at the meeting were broadcast by radio to all Mars' cities.
The faces of those present were serious and solemn.
The chairman of Interplanecom, the engineer Ro-pa-ge, made the final speech.
- "It's clear, why our hearts are now lit with the same flame. We're solving the riddle of life, and of mankind's purpose. The sun - the source of our planetary system's life - has faded out. It has illuminated planetary humanity's long and thorny path. In the prehistoric world's early days, it had illuminated our distant ancestors' lives with a bright blue light. Now it's faded out, and we see its crimson, ominous light. We have traveled an extremely long path in life. Along this path, we have carried all of culture and science's values. We are the last representatives of humanity!
"Our life was inextricably linked with the sun. We're now present at its death. We were left alone: communication with other planets has ceased. Coldness and death have now separated the planets' once closely knit family of mankind; now everyone is only concerned with their own salvation. Coldness and death..."
He paused and looked around the room with blazing eyes. Everyone sat silent. In absolute silence, only the impulsive breathing of those present and the creaking of the stenographers could be heard.
After a moment's pause, Ro-pa-ge began to resume his speech.
- "Our ancestors believed that the main source of sustaining solar energy was in its compression, and therefore the thermal energy of the sun should only be enough for 17 million years. After this period of time, the sun will condense to the size of our planet. Generally, this was correct, except in the matter of the date of the death of the sun, which was immeasurably further away. With the discovery of radium, its property of continuously emitting heat became apparent. From radium's emanations, completely new helium atoms could be obtained. Since helium is an emanation of radium, and its presence was discovered in the sun, even then it was already concluded that radium is also present in the sun. Subsequently, this was confirmed by science, and wide horizons were opened up in the realm of new sources of solar thermal energy. It is clear, therefore, that the sun retained its energy for an immeasurably longer span of centuries than had been supposed by our ancestors. But those dates have now passed... The sun has been extinguished. Is it possible that with its death, doom awaits us too? Do all the achievements of culture and science have to perish with the death of the sun? Is the path traversed by mankind really pointless?!
"No! In the last century, we have tremendously labored. Today it's finished. At the pole, we've constructed gigantic fifteen-kilometer apparatuses. Gas explodes inside them. With the help of these explosions, we'll break away from our sun's gravity, and will be transported through space towards a new sun. In many places, space is occupied by gaseous, dark masses and clouds of cosmic dust. They absorb the light of the stars beyond them. Sweeping for millennia, together with the entire solar system, our planet has now come into contact with such a cosmic cloud. This fortunate accident gave us the opportunity, with the help of an explosion directed at a denser part of the cosmic cloud, to overcome our sun's gravity and speed off into space. Today we will make the decision to depart on a long road! Through the icy expanses of space, to the silver road of the Milky Way, towards a new sun and a new life. Today we're finished with the old life! In two years, a new sun will be shining on us! Our decision must be immediately enforced!"
He finished and left the pulpit.
Everyone present rose from the large round table.
- "The decision must be immediately enforced!"
- "Communicate with the pole on the radio!"
- "Immediately!"
Ro-pa-ge walked to the table and wrote out the order.
In absolute silence, the order was signed by everyone.
After that, everyone again sat down at the round table, prolonging the silence. This continued while the transmission and execution of the order was in progress.
Suddenly, an abrupt, slight shock confirmed that at the pole, the first explosion of gas had occurred. The order had been executed.
Everyone again jumped up from the table and, holding on to the backs of their chairs during the continuous series of secondary shocks that followed, surrounded Ro-pa-ge, who was leaning over an oval mirror that was reflecting the sky.
In the convex surface of the mirror, flaming constellations quickly moved from west to east. Ursa Major, in the form of an elongated zigzag line, flashed in that same horizon. Flying along its orbit, the planet had slowly separated from it, drifting to the right. This was clear as the constellations of the southern hemisphere had appeared over the horizon.
Suddenly, at the edge of the oval mirror, a red, smoky spot of the ebbing sun flashed, fading and drifting from west to east.
2. The "Solar Engine" Society's Organizer and His Daughter
Ro-pa-ge returned home from the meeting cheerful and happy.
Finally, his life's dream had come true. The influence and power that he had recently lost were returning to him again.
He walked into his office and sat down at his desk.
He was still excited by the recently finished meeting and didn't feel tired yet. He was thinking about the planet, now broken away from its orbit and rushing through space, and felt a tremendous moral satisfaction.
He then involuntarily turned his eyes to the portrait of his ancestor, the primary founder of the "Solar Engine" Society.
A wise, energetic face watched him from a black frame.
It seemed to Ro-pa-ge that his tightly compressed lips were sympathetically smiling at him.
This primary founder had spent a great deal of energy putting his invention into practice - the "Solar Engine".
His invention was an aerobile, constructed on the principle of a planet.
Like a planet, it was surrounded by an atmosphere, formed from a special gas produced from inside the apparatus.
This gas coating protected the apparatus from the cold of airless space and solved all the previously unsolvable difficulties. Energy was captured by the apparatus from the sun's rays.
He made several flights to Earth, after that the government established the Interplanecom Institute, and he organized the "Solar Engine" Society, with a number of factories for producing his apparatuses. In a short period of time, he succeeded in getting large orders from Earth, and the Society began to rapidly prosper.
This Society played a large role in planetary history for millennia. And only when the sun faded out did it fall apart.
Its last organizer was Ro-pa-ge.
A continuous string of thoughts flashed through Ro-pa-ge's brain.
If Mars made a safe flight through space and revolved around a new sun - what incredible prospects would await it?!
He would be able to start the factories again, and thus take control of all the planet's production, once again in his own hands. His influence would have no limits. He'll explore the planets close to the new sun, and if life exists there, Mars will have precedence in the planetary market exchange. In any event, he - the last representative of the Society - will be its first recreator, and the creator of a new life!
* * *
While Ro-pa-ge was dreaming and making his plans for the future, a meeting was taking place in his daughter's office, the nature of which was very far from his dreams.
The blond, diminutive Me-ta, Ro-pa-ge's daughter, paced up and down the room, occasionally stopping in front of her listeners and gesticulating.
There were two listeners.
One was the engineer Reil, the other was the astronomical scientist Verne.[Translator's note: Presumably after Johann Christian Reil, source of the term "psychiatry", and Jules Verne, science fiction pioneer.]
- "We must take action immediately!" - Me-ta said: - "you can see for yourself that the influence of my father's party is growing. Even now, when our planet is flying through space, everyone will unquestioningly stand on his side, intoxicated with the idea of saving life and civilization. This threatens us with the fact that we'll be crushed in the near future. We have almost no supporters up here. Therefore, we must immediately establish relations with the workers in the mines. They're kept as slaves, their living conditions are terrible."
She was interrupted by engineer Reil.
- "You're right, Me-ta. I work on the electric trains that deliver cleveite from the mines to the engines. I see the workers all the time. They've already started fomenting. Our task is to direct their discontent to where we need it."
- "I'm in agreement with you on everything," Verne said, who had been sitting in thought the entire time: "you need to start immediately. Moreover, I have established that we'll fall into the new sun's gravitational sphere much earlier than was calculated by Interplanecom. Our planetary system is racing towards the constellation Hercules, towards the newly discovered star, Novum Sol.[Author's note: New sun] This star, in turn, races towards us. We'll enter its gravitational sphere not in two years, but in one year, four months. Additionally, this process won't proceed as painlessly as they've suggested. From the shock, will come tremendous destruction."
- "Are you suggesting, Verne, that the buildings, the factories, and the machines will be destroyed?" - was the question that Me-ta asked.
- "Of course."
- "That will make our job easier."
- "With the first rays of the new sun, a new life will begin!" - Reil confidently stated.
- "Well, let's leave the metaphysics for a while and get down to business..." - Me-ta declared, approaching the writing table: - "Tomorrow, I, together with my father, will go to the engines at the pole. You, of course, know that Ro-pa-ge has been appointed the chief of mines and engines... Under his cover, we'll start to work... I want to familiarize you with my plan. Listen."
Reil and Verne walked up to the table and leaned over the blueprints and mine plans...
* * *
In the morning, Me-ta entered her father's office. Ro-pa-ge had been up for a while and was sitting in a fluffy woolen bathrobe at a table littered with reports and charts.
When he saw her, he smiled from the corners of his lips, but the heavy concentration had not disappeared from his face.
He loved Me-ta in his own way.
He loved her wayward resolute character, in which he had recognized himself, and took pleasure in this.
At his core, he was a lonely, tired and jaded man. He needed authority and activity to fill the emptiness of his personal life. And he craved them like a drug in order to support his decrepit body. Today, his spirits were in good disposition.
- "I'll agree to everything, Me-ta. I know what you want."
- "I'm in awe of your clairvoyance."
- "Go, get ready, in three hours I'm leaving for the pole."
- "Engineer Reil is going with us".
- "Is that the fat, little melancholiac with a wart on his chin? Am I not mistaken?"
- "No."
- "Fine. He seems to talk little - I have nothing against him."
3. Slaves of the Machine. Song of the Sun
The mines branched out in endless corridors, going deeper and deeper towards the center of the planet. There, in the hot, suffocating air, the greasy bluish mineral deposits were glittering. The ore from here was delivered upwards on electric trains, where the exploding Yutli gas was produced at the pole's factories. It flowed through the pipes to the propulsion apparatus, where it exploded and imparted the movement of the planet through space.
The workers' quarters were located here, in the immediate vicinity of the mineral deposits of the mine works. Next to them, hospitals, cinematograph theaters and numerous workers' cafés had been built.
The work here was unending. Everyone rumbled, everyone rushed in a mad frenzy. All life here was adapted to this frantic pace of work.
In one of the worker's cafés, a group of workers who were free from work were resting.
Everyone's faces were gray and haggard. In their inflamed eyes, an expressionless mortal fatigue was gleaming.
The conversation was abrupt and sluggish.
- "We die by the hundreds every day. Our wives stopped having babies."
- "Children's homes are closed as being unnecessary."
- "We can't take it anymore!"
- "When will it end!?"
- "When we're all dead..."
At that moment, a young worker entered the café. Magir. He worked on the electric trains that delivered ore up to the engines. He had learned a great deal from the engineers and enjoyed a wide popularity among the workers.
He was surrounded and, in shaking everyone's hands, was carried away and deeper into the café.
Immediately he was bombarded with questions.
He slowly sat down at a table in the corner of the café and began to speak.
- "The engineers say the planet is heading in the right direction. If it continues like this, we'll see a new sun in six months."
- "What's next, Magir?"
- "We'll continue working here! The new life will be for the people up top, not for us..." old Dobbs interrupted angrily.
Sarcastic remarks were heard from all sides.
- "That's right, Dobbs! The sun won't see us..."
- "It won't have to warm our bones with its white rays."
- "It won't have to see those green trees and flowers, completely unknown to us."
- "The people up top will enjoy it on our behalf! You're right" - Magir began again, when the individual cries had ceased: - "Of course, then we'll all be forced to work for the people up top... But we'll be able to disrupt their power then..."
A sudden silence filled the café.
The workers moved closer to Magir.
- "What are you saying, Magir!?"
- "That's unthinkable."
- "The people up top are too powerful."
- "Have you forgotten how they treat people who say such things?"
- "Careful! They have ears everywhere."
- "Listen, listen," - Magir continued. - "I'll tell you what I've heard at the engines from the engineers. We have supporters among the people up top. They're going to help us. Listen! When our world approaches the new sun, there will be a strong marsquake. Much stronger than when our planet burst out from our old sun. Remember how the mines collapsed and crushed hundreds of workers?! Remember... And all the buildings and factories will collapse then, all the viaducts will shatter into pieces - the people up top will be powerless then. And we will come out of here, out of the dark mines, out of the grave's eternal darkness into a renewed world. Green-curled trees and flowers will blossom, fragrant fields will sing under the dazzling rays of the sun."
- "You speak well, Magir!"
- "Speak, speak... It seems to me that I can already feel this fertile warmth, from which my bones, rotted from dampness, are now coming to life."
- "I've never seen real forests!"
- "Speak, Magir... Go on."
And Magir spoke.
When the excited workers left the café half an hour later, Magir went to the women's houses.
Passing along one narrow street-mine, around a corner he heard a song. Someone walked towards him and sang:
"Soon the planet - a dying beast
Will become a young, jubilant beast;
Covered with a green wool again, -
With the forest's green-curled wool...
Like precious gems, flowers
Will sparkle in the green grass...
The beautiful wreath, from these flowers,
I will weave my beloved."
Magir recognized Arri by her voice. She came around the corner and ran into Magir, who had blocked her way.
- "I've been following you, Arri. It's good that I met you."
- "I decided to run to a friend's for a minute. Did you forget we're going to the theater today?"
- "Of course, I didn't forget... Tell me, where did you hear this song you were singing just now."
- "I wrote it myself. All our women, Magir, dream of a new sun. Of a new sun and a new love."
4. In the theatre. Magir and Arri at the round lake
A large segment of the public was at the enormous semicircular theater building. Magir and Arri had difficulty finding a free seat. The play "SonorgInterplanecom" was being performed.
There were no decorations. Their role had long been replaced by kino-epidiascopes, projecting the necessary scenery through the air onto the stage throughout the course of the play.
The theater curtain had been replaced a film camera that projected images right through the air, to the place where it would have hung. The same apparatus, if necessary, captured the hidden thoughts of the characters; which flashed in fiery letters in the air above the performers' heads.
In this way, scenery could instantly change, and could constantly be moving like a film strip, achieving unbelievable lighting effects.
Magir had already seen this play, but Arri was watching it for the first time.
The plot of the play was as follows. The son of a Interplanecom organizer falls in love with an artist from Jupiter. He had only seen her in films, and heard her voice in the "interplanetary radio opera." He decides to go to Jupiter and declare his love to her. But while he's in flight, his aerobile collides with one of the asteroids, Ceres. Everyone is dying. The organizer's son is alone on the asteroid, and on it, he makes an orbital revolution around the sun. Interplanetary newspapers carry this story to all the planets and print his portrait.
While reading the newspapers, the Jovian artist, in turn, falls in love with the organizer's son. She gathers an expedition and goes to save him. In the end, she eventually finds him. Everything turns out well. The instigator of the adventure marries the Jovian artist and publishes his book of impressions of Ceres, which makes him a famous writer.
Magir absentmindedly looked at the stage. He was thinking about something else. Tomorrow, these laughing people will groan under overwork again, curse their lives and die in hospitals. Is this frippery enough for them to forget all about this and be happy today? Where's the exit?!
The sharp longing of despair squeezed his heart. He himself suddenly longed for oblivion, some kind of mighty impulse, a dazzling joy and happiness.
He squeezed Arri's hand...
She turned to him and regarded him with tender, smiling eyes.
Then she took his hand in turn and stroked it with hers.
The play ended at that moment.
In place of the curtain, fiery letters jumped and turned into phrases:
"Keep working hard, we will soon see a new sun. Don't forget that you're doing a great job saving life and civilization. Long live the Interplanecom Council! Long live Ro-pa-ge!"
Arri stood up and took Magir's arm.
- "We'll go to the dance hall."
- "Good... whatever you like."
Crowds of people slowly poured out of the theatre's wide-open doors. The merry laughter and squeals of the women resounded in the archway. And on top of all this, somewhere far away, a cheerful, infectious dance was raging. The electricity was dazzlingly blazing, and cheerful couples were already spinning around the huge hall. Arri carried away Magir, and he spun in two circles with her. But he soon left her and began to wander through the crowded foyers and halls.
He was bored. Unreasonable anger began to choke him.
In one of the rooms, where there was an automated buffet, four workers were sitting at a table and drinking sapa.[Author's note: Vodka with ether] They were very drunk and were mocking and provoking those who were passing by.
When Magir entered, noticing his gloomy appearance, they burst out laughing merrily.
- "Look at this young fellow," said the first of them, choking with laughter.
- "He's trying to show us that he's very smart!"
- "This is Magir. He looks so smart because he's with the engineers all the time."
- "Hey, kid, don't dream too much, otherwise we'll teach you a lesson."
Ignoring them, Magir went to the buffet and drank a large glass of sapa in one gulp.
Alcohol immediately rushed to his head. The anguish began to fade. He wanted some rowdy fun.
He turned and looked at the drunken workers sitting at the table.
His gaze met their bleary eyes.
- "Hey, Magir, you're too shy to talk to us!" - shouted the first of them. - "Fine, I'll teach you to be polite now..."
He wanted to get up from his chair, but couldn't. The wide scar on his left cheek turned crimson from exertion.
Magir, without haste, approached him, his eyes flashing with a malevolent cheer. He grabbed him by the waist with both hands, lifted him into the air and flung him back into the chair with such force that he found himself on the floor, along with the chair, which had been smashed to pieces.
His comrades immediately fell silent and stared at Magir with glassy eyes.
- "That's enough for us..." - Magir gritted through his teeth and left the buffet.
His sudden upswing had been replaced by indifference. He became sad again.
He passed through a dazzlingly sparkling hall, where couples were merrily spinning and the music thundering, and went out into a deserted mine-street.
He walked straight ahead with quick strides.
Gradually the sounds of the merry dancing died away, and the deathlike silence, in which his steps resounded, enveloped him with its watchful intensity.
He turned right and, in order to shorten his route, walked to his workplace through narrow, zigzagging passages.
He didn't know where or why he was going. There were no distinct thoughts in his brain. Only some kind of melancholy and self-pity for himself, an almost physical pain, was squeezing his heart.
He came to the round lake. An electric lamp burned brightly above him. Its light cut a wide, sharp wedge into the motionless leaden water surface.
On the right side of the lake, Magir noticed a bench.
Approaching it, he sat down.
All around, everything was deserted and quiet. He sat for a long time, trying not to think about anything. The silence was thick. And he even felt his ears ringing from the rushing of blood.
Suddenly he thought he heard distant, hurried footsteps. He wasn't mistaken. Soon he saw Arri coming out towards the lake.
She saw him at once and hurried over to the bench.
- "I ran after you... You walked so fast. What's wrong with you Magir?"
Magir silently seated Arri next to him.
She cuddled up to him and fell silent.
From behind the lake, noise from the work started to become more distinctly audible. This activity was from the oxygen factories, which had replaced the functions of the forests now vanished.
- "Listen, Arri..." - Magir finally spoke, - "now I have a feeling that you and I are alone, away from this entire world. Up there, is coldness and death. And around the planet, darkness and coldness. And the planet is speeding towards a new sun. When our planet is illuminated by its white rays, we must be free. Will you help me? Will you be with me, Arri?"
5. Magir and Me-ta. Maita's Secret
Arriving at the factories at the pole, Me-ta wanted to find her own way into the mines and establish relations with the workers.
Her wish was fulfilled by engineer Reil, the head of the electric trains for ore delivery.
Ro-pa-ge was called away to the Interplanecom council, and therefore her absence wouldn't be noticed by anyone.
Me-ta dressed up as a worker and was sped into the depths of the mines on the very train that Magir was operating.
The train rushed quickly through the narrow mines, deafeningly loud around the turns. The heavy, stale air whistled in Me-ta's ears.
Magir stood motionless in the front car by the engine. His eyes were directed straight ahead, into the stuffy, quivering twilight, where the gigantic electric lamps flashed vaguely, streaking past the train. His hand was frozen on the regulator.
Me-ta was sitting nearby and couldn't take her eyes off his energetic face. Engineer Reil had told her a great deal of this worker, and she was now in agreement with him that Magir should be the leader of the rebellion.
As the train began to slow down, Magir turned around.
- "You'll get off now and wait for me in the mine-street on the right. It's my shift now. I'll take the train there."
At the bend, the train stopped instantly, and Me-ta jumped out of the car.
Pressing her back against the damp wall of the mine, she let a long line of cars disappear around the bend. Then she went straight ahead, deeper into the mine-street on the right...
Thus began Me-ta's acquaintance with Magir. Without noticing it himself, Magir had completely fallen under the influence of this girl. What had previously been budding in his thoughts, vaguely and indefinitely, now during conversations with Me-ta, ripened. He always looked forward to Me-ta's appearances. Lately, occupied with business up top, she appeared in the mines less and less often.
* * *
The hospital's huge quadrangular rooms were filled with beds.
Here, like everywhere else, the roar of the machines penetrated. And here in this incessant noise, thousands of people died, exhausted by work, by the lack of sun and air.
Medicine was powerless in the fight against this mortality. Nothing can replace light and air.
Magir often came here after his shift. His mother was lying here.
Today he came late, delayed by a workers secret meeting.
Lying on the bed motionless was his mother, Maita.
Gray hair hung over her reddened face. As he approached the bed, she opened her eyes.
- "How do you feel, mama?"
- "I feel like I'm about to die... You did well to come today. There's a lot I want to tell you..."
He knelt before her and placed her hand on his head.
A thin, powerless hand caressingly clung to his hair.
- "Listen, my dear boy, every night I dream one and the same thing. Once as a child I was up top, in the museums. I saw the old paintings. It was, probably, a very long time ago. My parents and my parents' parents lived under the red sun. And in those paintings, a bright, white-bluish sun was drawn. The whole planet was covered with green-curled trees and bright flowers... Every night now I dream all of this. I can't tell if this is delusion or reality? I see that our dead planet is once again covered with lush vegetation and fragrant flowers. I see a completely different people: strong, joyful and singing.
"No more dead cold and eternal twilight. The dazzling blue sun shoots its hot streams of rays from the sky. Animals completely unfamiliar to me are caressing me... And wherever I look, our gloomy iron factories, steel streets and black dead skies are nowhere. Everywhere - are trees, herbs and flowers. My dear Magir, maybe it will be so. Maybe it's not a delusion... Why are you silent, Magir? Move closer to me, it's hard for me to speak..."
- "It's not a delusion, mama... I believe in it myself. And I have the same dreams. All of us, living here in darkness and crushed by this slave labor, have the same dreams. It's not a delusion, it's a premonition. Our planet - an old and decrepit beast - will again be covered with green-curled wool. We'll all be free and happy. Listen, mother, a girl from above came to us and told us about a new sun and a new life. This girl now lives among us. She says that soon, the new sun's rays will douse our old planet, burn and destroy all our factories and iron housing, and wash away our life's curse. She says we need to rise up and win our new life. We're ready to follow her..."
- "Yes, Magir, the time has come... An ancient prophecy is coming true..."
- "What prophecy are you talking about?"
- "Your father, Magir, was the last member of a secret society, who dreamed of a new sun and a new life. He said, that only cosmic revolutions can regenerate life. The society your father belonged to was exterminated.
"The last of its members fled to the underground caverns and lived out the rest of their lives there. Your father, Magir, gave me the secret of this Society. I will die soon. Listen, and I'll give it to you..."
Magir moved closer, and old Maita began to speak to him in a low, broken voice.
- "In these mines, where we now work, the last members of the secret Society went into hiding. In the straight mineshaft that leads to the round lake, is where their laboratory remains. Nobody knows about its existence. Come closer to me and I'll tell you how to find it..."
By evening Maita had died.
Me-ta arrived at night and Magir told her about her mother's secret. With great precautions, they went together into the straight mineshaft, that leads to the round lake.
On the right-hand wall, Magir located a protruding stone and turned it. A door opened and brought them to the laboratory. Musty air and a layer of dust indicated that no one had been there in a long time.
Magir's attention was attracted by a round, metallic mirror with electric wires dispersing from it, and a shining acoustic device.
- "It's a receiver!" - exclaimed Me-ta: - "if it's in good condition, we can find out everything that's happening on the surface..."
She brushed the dust off the mirror and began to randomly rearrange the levers.
A cry of surprise broke from Magir's lips.
The round mirror turned black. In it, unknown constellations were brightly flashing. At its zenith, more and more distinctly, a misty spot of the new sun flared up. The blue-black abyss of the sky was covered by its rays like a film.
- "The new sun! We're approaching the new sun!!" Me-ta exclaimed and squeezed Magir's hand.
Magir was silent. Everything here amazed him in its unusualness. Thoughts swept through his mind. His heart swooned. The stale air rang in his ears and his face burned.
From somewhere far away, the words of Me-ta sounded...
- "Listen, Magir, I'll tell you about your past. Long, long ago, an incredible disaster struck our already dying planet. One of our satellite moons, Phobos, crashed into the northern hemisphere. It destroyed all our cities, turning the entire northern half into a fiery liquid mass. And then, a miracle happened. When the fiery-liquid mass cooled down, the first forms of life appeared. A prehistoric world arose, and in it, finally, a new man. We didn't know what to do with them. But time went by. This new tribe of people - your ancestors - multiplied rapidly.
"Coming into contact with our culture, their development made enormous strides. We had to do something about them. And well, we couldn't think of anything better than the enslavement of these creatures. It happened when the sun faded. Use of our mechanical workers became impossible for us. The cold destroyed all of our technology and rendered us powerless. We needed manpower, and the people up top committed the greatest injustice. They made you our slaves, equating you with mechanical workers. To save their own lives, they threw you into the mines..."
Me-ta approached Magir and put her hands on his shoulders.
- "We must win, Magir! The new sun and new living conditions will help us merge two different kinds of people into one whole. Us - who arose earlier, enriched with experience and knowledge, but already dying, already deprived of many human functions, and you - still young, full of vitality. This merger will produce a powerful new race. A new sun will light our way!"
The heart in Magir's chest rocked in a frenzy of beats. Everything was somewhere floating away, obscured by white streams of sparkling light. For a moment the sole image of Arri was flashing. She flickered and faded. Gone without a trace.
Me-ta's lips smiled closer and closer. The wide-open abyss of her eyes drew an irresistible joy into their incomprehensible depth...
6. Arri. In the laboratory again
Me-ta left on the same day...
Magir was sitting in the workers' café, everything that happened seemed like a dream to him. At that moment there was no one in the café. Magir hadn't gone to work for a while and was hiding from the Interplanecom soldiers who were searching for him, and had received orders for his arrest. This secluded café was chosen as a meeting place for like-minded people.
The machines were shining coldly. Light from the electric lamps was pouring from the vaulted stone ceiling, reflecting onto the smooth surfaces of the metal tables.
It was deathly silent. From the mine-street, not a sound could be heard.
Suddenly the door opened and Arri quickly rushed into the café. Magir didn't recognize her at first.
He hadn't seen her in a long time. She'd changed a great deal. She lost weight, a mournful wrinkle had set around her lips. Her eyes revealed the shade of a poorly concealed yearning.
- "I knew that I'd find you here," - Arri began in a broken voice, - "I ran... it's good that I came in time. Save yourself, Magir! You're going to be arrested..."
Noticing that Magir was trying to speak, she took him by the hand...
- "Later... Every minute is precious now."
They came out of the café and saw four Interplanecom soldiers rapidly approaching the café from the right.
- "If we manage to make it to the straight mineshaft, we'll be safe. It seems they've already noticed us, Arri?!"
Magir was not mistaken - the soldiers had noticed them.
The pursuit began.
Trying to take a shortcut, Magir opted for the narrow, dark passages. The soldiers weren't far behind. In one of the passages, a soldier fired a shot. But Magir and Arri had already turned into the straight mineshaft. Having reached the laboratory, they were hidden and had escaped their pursuers.
The mineshaft was straight, and there were no exits within it. The soldiers, wondering where the fugitives could be hiding, ran past the laboratory, towards the round lake.
- "I escaped. Arri... I owe this to you."
Arri was silent, which turned into heavy breathing.
Magir became uneasy. He walked over to the receiver and looked around the laboratory. Down to the smallest detail, the previous day had flashed before him. All sensations were alive. Against his will, the image of Me-ta stood between him and Arri. A cold, caustic wave rose to his yearning heart. It was clear that nothing could be restored.
The past is gone forever. And the more he thought, the brighter the flame of yearning and painful tenderness for Arri flared up. What should he do? How can he touch the wound without pain...
He walked over to Arri.
She looked at him with a sad, staring visage.
- "You've been avoiding me lately, Arri..."
- "I... you noticed that?”
The discarded phrase seemed absurd and meaningless. It became painfully offensive that they could not find the necessary, simple words. Like ripples on top of water from a stone's throw, sensations elusively slipped through their brains, passing without a trace, without evoking words...
He stepped closer to her and took her by the hand.
She winced.
- "Did you know, Arri, that there's something stronger than me? I used to be alive here, the dead stone arch seemed like the sky to me, the darkness did not plunge its heavy claws into my shoulders, the work did not seem like slavery. And from somewhere, a longing for the white sun came. From where? I haven't even seen this white sun! A girl from up top came to me... As a storm sweeps over everything in its whirlwind, so now my feelings and thoughts overwhelm me. They're torn from the past. The past has vanished like smoke. I have no more will!"
Arri cautiously released her hands and backed away from Magir. Her voice sounded sorrowful and tranquil.
- "I understand you. I don't need anything. I just love you. I don't need any future freedoms, or the white sun, I don't need anything but my love for you. Let's not talk about it anymore..."
When they left the laboratory, the straight mineshaft was deserted. At the end of it, illuminated by electric lamps, the surface of the round lake was gleaming, coldly and gloomily.
They walked around it and silently saying goodbye, went their separate ways.
7. Multum novi sub sole[Author's note: Much is new under the sun]
Ro-pa-ge sat motionless in his office inside the circular Interplanecom building. His pale face was twitching with nervous spasms. His lips were tight. Sometimes they had a disdainful smile. His heavy, tired gaze was focused on one point - on the white sheets of the report.
He had just finished reading this report, on the blossoming movement among the workers.
As stated in the report, the primary leaders of the movement were Verne, Reil, some worker named Magir, and his own daughter, Me-ta. Verne had been arrested this morning in the Interplanecom laboratory. The others whereabouts were unknown. It wasn't news to him that his daughter was involved in the conspiracy. He had previously assumed this, knowing Me-ta's views.
He was thinking about something else now. Much had passed before his eyes. Much, that is commonly called life. And it's necessary to do justice to the fact that this "much" is just enough for him to be sick of it. Eternal repetition. And the foundations of life are unchanged. Even cognitive power is an eternal cycle of repetition. Perhaps this cognitive power existed before the emergence of sentient beings.
The surrounding external world, with its unchanged appearance, evokes the same thoughts. And here is the movement towards these people's freedom, who by some miracle have sprung up. Sprung up like mold on an old planet already about to rot. Another absurdity of eternal repetition. Suddenly, the image of Me-ta appeared in front of his eyes, and her words sounded enthusiastically.
- "No, you are sorely mistaken, father. There is no knowledge outside of people. It's only with the development of people that productive forces also develop. And what to you seems old and eternally repeated, is, in essence, new. Life doesn't come back. Life is an eternally young, boisterously exuberant stream. It takes us to unknown shores... Every moment of its flow is a new unique world."
He closed his eyes to better hear her words, to more clearly see her revived, almost real image. A new, unfamiliar joyful feeling raged in warm waves in his chest. There was no strength to fight against this imperious feeling, Ro-pa-ge opened his eyes.
- "I need to see Verne and learn about Me-ta from him."
This desire had unexpectedly come, after a powerful new feeling for Me-ta flared up in him.
He gave the order and, leaning back in his chair, waited.
When Verne was in the office at last, Ro-pa-ge asked him a question.
- "Listen, Verne, as recently as yesterday, you were present during the report at Interplanecom. We finally arrived at the new sun's sphere of gravity. What almost seemed like a dream to us two years ago has now come true. We've preserved life, culture and all the value of science. Our existence has become purposeful. And will you now oppose us at the time when we must proceed with our temporarily interrupted construction of life?..."
- "I'll answer your question, Ro-pa-ge. Yes, we're against you. And we will win! Have you forgotten that society can become a parasite? The most common parasite, from which many previously existing lifeforms have perished. It doesn't need them now, since it now lives off another lifeform. Your Society has become such a parasite. It's achieved everything - the highest measure of well-being - and then the death of this organism's unnecessary organs started. Many valuable human functions have disappeared from us forever. They can't be restored. You've forgotten that the only way to save ourselves is to merge with a young, new tribe, still full of life force. You've neglected this... You've made this tribe into slaves and thrown them into the mines."
- "Fine, Verne, but if we give power to these workers now, what will we achieve? Nothing. After a certain period of time, they'll do the same thing that we're doing now. Do you really think that they aren't bearing their burden of knowledge and experience of life? Do you really think that, having entered a new, freshly nascent world, they'll forget their previous one, that they'll be able to throw the burden of millennia off of their shoulders, that they'll be able to regenerate themselves? No! They'll apply their previous experiences to this world and, in the end, will arrive at the same spot that we've come to. Or do you think, Verne, that they're made of some kind of different substance? No. The foundations of life are homogeneous and constant. Is it worth it kicking up this whole business, only to come to the same result, just in a more roundabout fashion?"
He fell silent.
Verne rose from his chair and paced around the office.
A wide stream of faint white light flowed through the large oval window. The sky, which no longer had constellations, took on a greyish-blue tint. The planet was rapidly approaching the sun.
"A few more weeks and everything will change," Verne thought, "the planet will come to life. Bright rays will melt the layers of ice. Seas and rivers will form. Humid winds will blow and warm rain will fall. A new life will begin. Will I see it?"
Ro-pa-ge was the first to break the silence.
- "Tell me, Verne, where is Me-ta now?"
- "Completely safe. I can't tell you more, of course."
- "Fine. Answer one more question."
- "But make it the last. We're not going to convince each other."
- "Fine. Did you know that you'll be accused of treason..."
- "Yes. And what will that mean...?"
- "Death. For you, and for the culture that you're preserving for a future life. I think you're quite mistaken in your sweeping accusations of our Society. I hope that you won't deny this. Consider my words."
Ro-pa-ge called out and Verne was taken away.
Ro-pa-ge was left alone. An unreasonable irritation took possession of him. He's above life's laws and human delusions. He knows what life's laws lead to.
A pointless circle of repetition! Nonsense! There is nothing but prosperity and power!
This heroism in life is worth absolutely nothing. No, he will never compromise. He's not afraid to fight...
He leaned back in his chair and began considering measures to suppress the presumed rebellion.
Then a smile flickered across his tight lips.
Multum novi sub sole!
8. A new world is born
Everything was brighter and brighter, growing more blue in the sky. The sun's incandescent white-bluish disk constantly sparkled motionlessly at its zenith. Dazzling sheaves of white rays flowed through the gaps of the unexpectedly formed clouds, and under their influence, the planet came to life.
Amid the ruins of collapsed buildings, rapid streams from the melted ice were surging. Everything was in a flurry of movement.
In the form of evaporation, huge reserves of moisture had risen to the sky, and returned from there by the warm showers. All the lowlands were covered with water and looked like seas.
With extraordinary speed, life had gained its rights, destroying all of mankind's centuries-old achievements, as if removing faint pencil drawings on paper with an eraser.
The news that the planet was in the sphere of the sun's rays had spread with the speed of lightning throughout the mines.
Confusion arose there.
With incredible speed, the planet raced parallel to the sun, but, under the influence of its gravity, gradually turned to the right, and created an orbit for itself.
The conflict of two forces - gravity and inertia - destroyed part of the lower mines, and the workers rushed to the upper mines in a panicking horror.
This was taken advantage of by rebellion committees, which were led by Magir.
The slogan was thrown around: "To the planet's surface!"
At that moment, when everyone spontaneously rushed to the mines' main exit, Magir was informed that the oxygen factories were abandoned by Interplanecom's detachments of guards.
The detachments had left the mines and closed the main exit's steel gates.
It was necessary to act immediately and decisively.
Magir, with a portion of the committee's workers, rushed to the round lake, behind which the oxygen factories were located.
No one was near them. The electric lights were out, and absolute darkness reigned everywhere. Only above one of the factories was an ever-increasing scarlet glow fluttering and bleeding onto the motionless round lake.
- "The factory's been set on fire, Magir," said Arri quietly, who had been with Magir the entire time.
- "We need to put the fire out immediately! If we can't do it, the flames will spread to the rest of the factories, and we'll suffocate without air..."
There was an eerie silence around. No one dared sacrifice himself.
- "We mustn't hesitate..." - Magir broke the silence: - "any minute the fire can reach the gas tanks, and then the resulting explosive gas will destroy both the factories and the mines. I'll go..."
- "No, no!" - Arri screamed, - "You need to lead the rebellion. I'm ready, let's get a cannister of fire extinguishing gas. I'll go."
- "You, Arri?..." - with pale lips Magir whispered.
- "Didn't I promise that I wouldn't leave you?..."
Arri's eyes sparkled. A bright blush appeared on her face.
- "Farewell, Magir... Maybe..."
Something tightened Magir's throat and he couldn't speak.
Her flaming lips touched his lips and burned him with the fire of ecstasy. A moment passed.
Then Arri disappeared among the black shadows of the departing workers, which were even blacker against the backdrop of the glow.
- "When the fire is put out, start up the factories..." - without realizing what he was saying, Magir mechanically gave the order.
He didn't have time to find out what happened next. A messenger, who had been a long time looking for him, approached him that moment.
- "You're wanted at the main exit. The steel gates are closed. Here's the order from the girl up top."
After reading Me-ta's message, Magir gave orders on the go.
- "Immediately drive three electric trains to the main exit. We'll break the gates down with them!"
Halfway to the main exit, the first train had caught up with him. He jumped on it and took control of it.
A few minutes later he stopped the train.
A huge crowd of workers at the main exit were blocking the road.
A panic of desperation had set in.
Me-ta and engineer Reil squeezed their way towards Magir with difficulty.
- "The gates are closed. The Interplanecom guard detachments have found their way behind them. Panic has broken out among the workers."
- "I see. We'll break the gate!"
- "Calm the workers down first."
Magir started to deliver a speech and the panic was instantly quelled.
When he had finished, the crowd had backed away from the main exit and cleared a path.
Armed detachments were lined up behind the train.
- "Listen, Reil, go to the oxygen factories. There's a fire. Let them through. To stop the fire, Arri sacrificed herself. Save her if it's not too late."
Behind them, the approaching electric trains were already thundering.
- "We must act! Every second is precious. In the event of my death, Me-ta, I'm handing the leadership of the rebellion over to you. Farewell."
He jumped on the train and pulled the lever...
An incredible crash jolted the vaulting of the mines! The heavy steel gates trembled and flew off their hinges.
The bright white rays of the sun burst into the mines and tore the darkness apart.
Part of the first car was shattered, and Magir, thrown back by the force of the impact, was launched into the rear wall of the car. Miraculously, he escaped death.
For a moment he saw a dazzling white light flowing in a wide stream from above, an enormous space filled with Interplanecom detachments fleeing in terror. Round, large, dark eyeglasses were in front of the soldiers crushed by the train.
Then he heard, like the roar of waves, the victorious noise of the battle behind him, and suddenly fiery red circles were in his eyes and a sharp, cutting pain darkened his consciousness.
He raised his hand to his eyes and realized that he was blinded by the brightness of the white rays.
A black, cold wave rose from below and flooded his brain. It became easy. The pain stopped, as if his brain had been removed.
He lost all feeling.
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