The Monster (short story)
"The Monster" is a science fiction short story by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt, originally published in Astounding in August 1948. It was one of van Vogt's favorite stories. It was included in several anthologies, including 1952's Destination: Universe!, sometimes under the title "Resurrection".
| "The Monster" | |
|---|---|
| Author | A. E. van Vogt |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Published in | Astounding SF |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Media type | Magazine, paperback |
| Publication date | August 1948 |
It involves aliens who come across a long-dead Earth and explore it in an attempt to find out what killed the obviously intelligent life forms. Their exploration leads to their mortal danger when they discover a deadly monster.
Plot
Enash, an alien of the Ganae race, lands in a city that is crumbling with age and covered with the remains of bodies. There is no sign of warfare, and it appears the inhabitants met their doom knowingly and willingly. The Ganae are mystified; given the obvious technological capacity, if they faced a worldwide threat why did they not move to another star? They suspect they did not have the ability to find star systems containing planets, a technique the Ganae only learned by accident.
They find a museum and use their advanced machinery to revive a body that turns out to be an Egyptian Pharaoh who is upset his attendants are missing. He can offer no useful information, so Captain Gorsid has him killed. A second body is revived; he is an alcoholic who believes the aliens to be the result of delirium tremens. They quickly place him as having lived long before the catastrophic event, and he too is killed.
The third man sits up and immediately asks if they are from the stars; Enash is concerned by his rapid understanding of the situation. Looking about the museum, the man concludes he had died some time before the calamity that destroyed the planet, but is able to offer some information about the various devices in the building. When he runs out of useful information and they attempt to kill him, the guards burst into flame and the man walks away. The Ganae escape to their ship and drop an atomic bomb on the city.
By this time, measurements have revealed the planet is physically safe for colonization, but without knowing the cause of the race's death such an action is inconceivable. The possibilities remain unclear; the third man had mental powers and lived in a society with advanced atomic power, so whatever killed them would clearly be a risk to the Ganae as well. The Ganae debate whether to revive another body, and Enash is especially concerned.
The decision is finally made to revive one of the bodies found in the open. The man vanishes as soon as he is revived. Realizing their technology might be compromised, the Ganae destroy all of the revival equipment and planet locators. The man reappears and Enash asks what happened to the planet; he explains that the planet was swept by a nucleonic storm that was so large that even Castor would be engulfed, and that was the only star they were sure had planets and was within the 90 light year limit of their ability.
Their attempts to kill him fail, and they escape to the ship to discuss the issue. They return to suggest they could live together on the planet with the man. They explain that the Ganae need to find new planets due to the impossible population problems they face. He is unimpressed and suggests they simply control their breeding, causing the Ganae to laugh at his naïveté. He responds that humans will take on that task if the Ganae are not willing. The threat is clear, and the Ganae say that if an agreement is not reached they will return to the planet and bomb it into dust. As they leave, the man tells them they have overlooked an important point.
Their attempt to begin the bombing fails, the bombs simply don't explode. Having expected this, they start the journey to another Ganae planet to collect a fleet. Forty light years from Earth, Enash is called to the council chambers and told the monster is aboard the ship. He realizes the overlooked point is that the monster never said they required spaceships to travel 90 light years. If they continue their journey, the monster will eventually figure out where they are headed, and then teleport there, long before they can warn anyone. They decide to sacrifice themselves and kill the monster by flying into a star.
After locking the controls into a collision course, Enash has a thought. Asking the ship's astronomer, he learns that the crew of the ship had difficulty destroying the locators because one of the doors was locked. He realizes that in the seconds after being revived, the monster had already visited the ship and learned all he needed. The rest was simply a ruse to get the crew to kill themselves, while he returned to Earth and revived the race without the rest of the Ganae learning of their existence.