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iapetus

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approaching a cave on iapetus

A brooding atmosphere seemed to rest over the scene as twenty vac-suited figures stepped from the two ships toward the black cave mouth at the nearest cliff’s base.  A ridiculously tiny sun overhead barely dispelled a deep gloom in the miniature valley.  Age-old, untouched by natural life, the ancient surroundings were an utterly alien motif against an unfamiliar blue-black sky.

Shelton cautiously led his party to the side of the cave mouth, approaching it along the cliff face.  Traft’s giant figure followed him eagerly, convinced it was a pirate’s nest that must be cleaned out.  Myra Benning’s smaller form was at his back, flanked by Ranger men, ready for any emergency.  Shelton had told them the salient points about the whole affair.

Stooping, they were able to gain the high lip of the cave and crouch behind it.  Then, carefully, heads were raised and eyes peered through visors into the cave.  There was not much to be seen except that it was huge and stretched out interminably.  Deep shadows hung on all sides, obscuring detail.

“See anything, men?” asked Shelton, his audio-vibrator carrying his voice to all of them.

A series of negatives was his response, and Shelton felt a queer sense of disappointment.

“There is something in that cave!”  Myra Benning’s voice was low, half breathless.  “I can’t see anything, but I can feel it!  Something is waiting there, waiting – “

Eando Binder, The Impossible World (Startling Stories, March 1939)

>>  Guess The World - Third Series

enigmatic object on iapetus

“…I still can’t make any sense of the white area.  It starts at an absolutely sharp-edged boundary, and shows no surface detail at all.  It could even be a liquid – it’s flat enough.  I don’t know what impression you’ve got from the videos I’ve transmitted, but if you picture a sea of frozen milk you’ve got the idea exactly.

“It could even be some heavy gas – no, I suppose that’s impossible.  Sometimes I get the feeling that it’s moving, very slowly; but I can never be sure…

“…I’m over the white area again, on my third orbit.  This time, I hope to pass closer to that mark I spotted at its very centre, when I was on my way in.  If my calculations are correct, I should go within fifty miles of it – whatever it is.

“…Yes, there’s something ahead, just where I calculated.  It’s coming up over the horizon – and so is Saturn, in almost the same quarter of the sky.  I’ll move to the telescope…

“Hello! – it looks like some kind of building – completely black – quite hard to see.  No windows or any other features.  Just a big, vertical slab – it must be at least a mile high to be visible from this distance…”

Arthur C Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

>>  Guess The World - Third Series

castaways on iapetus

..."How come this gravity, Brain? I weigh about a hundred right now, I figure, and that’s too much, by plenty.  Iapetus isn’t a quarter the size of our moon.”

"It’s supposed to have a core of heavy radioactive metals,” said Morley, thoughtfully, "and a corresponding high density. Keeps it warm anyway, instead of a big icicle, like Phoebe.”

"Phoebe!” Madsen laughed. "I remember, back in ’89 — ” He stopped abruptly at a rattling from the ledge. A green, little lizard-like creature was scrambling frantically over the granite, while hot in pursuit were three — spiders? Black, they were, a black like living velvet, and incredibly fast as they closed in, beady stalked eyes fastened on their prey. They were deliberately herding the desperate lizard toward a cleft in the rock. As the creature leaped into the opening, another spider dove at it from the recess. The others closed in…

...In a matter of minutes Spaceboat 6 was out of sight. With Madsen leading, they threaded their way through the scant undergrowth. Underfoot the dry, broadbladed grass rustled through a morning that had no beginning or end. Farther away were other and less easily explained rustlings, and once both men froze as a half-dozen of what looked like baby dragons arrowed past within yards of them.

"Formation flying, like ducks,” muttered Morley, watching from the corner of his eye.

When the whispering of scaled wings had died away, the castaways resumed their steady plodding into the south. Twice they crossed small fresh water brooks, providing a welcome opportunity to drink their fill, and replenish the canteens. The going was easy, since the footing was in fairly dense soil, and the scrub was not so thick as to provide any difficulties. After eight hours of nearly continuous travel, they reached the banks of a third stream. Here Madsen stopped, and dropped his knapsack to the ground…

D W Barefoot, Morley's Weapon (Planet Stories, March 1954)

>>  Guess The World - Fifth Series

fateful meeting on iapetus

…he walked towards a silent watcher, a humanoid figure, one of a half-dozen visible on the sides of the pass.

The figure looked not much different from a tall, strangely-attired Earthman.  He wore a black-green leathery suit, a dark shapeless hat, and what looked like boxing gloves.  The air pressure up at this height was far too low for Seth Hurst to breathe, yet the Iapetan wore no helmet, his face open to the sky.

As he approached, Seth scrutinised the man’s neck but saw no translator tube.  But it hardly seemed worth the trouble to worry about communication – was not everything being taken care of?

The problem was indeed resolved when Seth halted two yards from the Iapetan who then spoke in Tsvairp, the harsh though splendid tongue of the Titanic blowpots, which – minus the whistle – had acquired currency as the lingua franca of the Saturnian moons.

High-pitched due to the thinness of the air, yet projected with sufficient force to be clear, the meaning of the greeting was unmistakable.  Seth like the first word – pity about the rest of the sentence.

“Welcome!  Another Earthman-volunteer from the Great World, sent here to the summits of Khurrn, to participate in our experiments…”

Robert Gibson, The Arc of Iapetus (J M Greer and Zendexor, eds., Vintage Worlds 3 (2020))

>>  Guess The World - Fifth Series