A Fall of Moondust
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| A Fall of Moondust | |
 Dust-jacket from the 1st edition |
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| Author | Arthur C. Clarke |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Gollancz |
| Publication date | 1961 |
| Media type | print (hardback) |
| Pages | 224 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-575-07317-9 (reprint) |
A Fall of Moondust is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1961. It was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was the first science fiction novel selected to become a Reader's Digest Condensed Book.
By the 21st century, the Moon has been colonized, and is open to tourists who can afford the trip. Some of them are trapped after a lunar quake. Can they be rescued?
Contents |
[edit] Plot
By the 21st century, the Moon has been colonized, and although still very much a research establishment, it is visited by tourists who can afford the trip. One of its attractions is a cruise across one of the lunar seas, named the Sea of Thirst, which has filled with an extremely fine dust, a fine powder far drier than the contents of a terrestrial desert and which almost flows like water, instead of the common regolith which covers most of the lunar surface. A specially designed "boat" named the Selene skims over the surface of the dust in the same manner as a jetski.
But on one cruise, a problem develops. A moonquake causes an underground cavern to collapse, upsetting the equilibrium. As the dustcruiser Selene passes over, it sinks about 15 meters below the surface of the dust, hiding the vessel from view, and trapping it beneath the choking dust. Immediately there are potentially fatal problems for the crew and passengers inside. The sunken Selene has a limited air supply, there is no way for heat generated to escape, communications are impossible, and no one else is sure where Selene has been lost. As precious time begins to run out and the Selene heats up and the air becomes stale, young Captain Pat Harris and his chief stewardess Sue Wilkins try to keep the passengers occupied and psychologically stable whilst waiting to be rescued.
Fortunately, the passengers include several potentially useful people, such as Irving Schuster, an eminent lawyer, his wife Myra, the Australian aboriginal physicist Duncan McKenzie, feisty journalist Phyllis Morley, and a retired space ship captain and explorer, Commodore Hansteen, who is initially travelling incognito. However, some passengers are not very psychologically stable, and they include a drug addict and a criminal on the run.
At the grounded colony, Chief Engineer (Earthside) Robert Lawrence is skeptical that a rescue can be mounted, even if the Selene can be located. He is ready to abandon an initially unsuccessful search, when he is contacted by Thomas Lawson, a brilliant but eccentric astronomer who, from his vantage point on a satellite high above the Moon, Lagrange 2, believes he has detected the remains of a heat trail on the surface. An expedition is organized and Lawrence indeed makes contact with the Selene from a suspended platform above where the Selene has sunk. However the completely alien environment results in numerous unforeseen complications.
At the end of the novel, the rescuers sink a metal tube to the Selene and cut a hole in the roof. With only seconds to go before Selene's liquid oxygen supply explodes, the passengers climb out into the waiting rescue craft. A short epilogue sees Lawrence writing his memoirs, Pat and Sue married, and Pat hoping to transfer to the space service.
[edit] Adaptation
A BBC Radio drama of the story was produced in 1981. It features David Buck as Captain Pat Harris and Barry Foster as Chief Engineer Lawrence. In 2008, the production was released on BBC Compact Disc (ISBN 978 1405 688048).
[edit] Translations
- Russian: "Лунная пыль" ("Moondust"), first edition 1965.
- Serbian: "Pad Mesečeve prašine" ("A Fall of Moondust"), 1990.
- Turkish: "Susuz Deniz" ("Waterless Sea"), first edition 1984.
- Finnish: "Selene I", first edition 1976.
- Slovak: "Mesačný prach" ("Moondust"), first edition N/A.
[edit] References
- Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. pp. 101. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.
[edit] See also
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