The Monster (short story)
| The Monster | |
|---|---|
| by 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 |
"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".
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
In the distant future, Earth is visited by the Ganae, a race of warlike aliens who are surveying the planet as the site for a potential colony. Earth has suffered a mysterious catastrophe; its cities have decayed into ruins and the skeletons of dead humans litter the planet, but there are no signs of warfare or any other obvious disaster.
The Ganae possess "reconstructor" technology that can restore dead people to life with all of their memories intact. They attempt to interrogate revived humans for information about the destruction of Earth, but their efforts meet with limited success. The first man to be revived is an Egyptian pharaoh who believes the Ganae to be demons from the underworld; the second is an alcoholic who thinks the Ganae are merely part of a drunken hallucination; the third is comparatively modern and recognizes that the Ganae are aliens, but he is ignorant of the circumstances surrounding the end of the world. Each revived person is summarily executed once they are no longer useful to the Ganae.
The expedition determines that Earth is suitable for Ganae colonization, but they learn nothing about the cause of humanity's extinction. Human civilization was highly advanced, both technologically and physically (as the last man to be revived used telekinetic powers to defend himself), but their entire race was nonetheless destroyed. Because the unknown force that eradicated mankind could conceivably threaten the Ganae's colonization efforts, the survey team reluctantly decides to revive another human for questioning in the hope of finding answers.
The fourth man to be revived, referred to by the Ganae as "the monster," is considerably more advanced than the others, with abilities that border on the magical; he can teleport long distances, is able to discern the nature and intent of the Ganae at a glance, can telepathically disable Ganae technology, and proves to be impervious to Ganae weaponry. When asked, he readily reveals the cause of Earth's destruction: a "nucleonic storm," dozens of light-years across, that extended beyond humanity's limited range for space travel and ravaged the planet. The Ganae leader proposes the peaceful co-habitation of Earth with the monster (while leaving the rest of humanity dead), which the Ganae claim is necessary to accommodate the growing population of their steadily expanding empire. When the monster suggests that the Ganae should instead enact population control measures and move to limit their endless expansion, the Ganae interpret his comments as a direct threat to their species' sovereignty and promise to return to Earth with a fleet of warships to overwhelm the monster's powers via sustained atomic bombardment.
While traveling back to their own territory, the Ganae discover that the monster has stowed away aboard their ship. They deduce that he intends to accompany them to the nearest Ganae-occupied world, steal the reconstructor technology (which the crew had earlier destroyed in order to keep it out of his hands), then teleport back to Earth and revive more people before the Ganae attack; it will be impossible for the Ganae to conquer the planet when confronted by multiple humans with god-like powers. Unable to contact any of their colonies for fear that the monster will trace their transmission beam and teleport ahead of them, the Ganae decide to fly their ship into a star, killing both the monster and themselves. Too late, however, after setting a collision course with a star and disabling their ship's navigational controls, do the Ganae realize that the monster has already been aboard the ship, having teleported there immediately after he was revived (explaining why he briefly vanished upon waking up). By visually inspecting the Ganae's technology, the monster has no doubt learned how the reconstructor works and can simply teleport himself to safety at any time. He has manipulated the Ganae into committing a desperate act of suicide before they could warn their empire, ensuring that "no alien mind" will know about either the existence of planet Earth or the impending revival of the human race.