The sun glinted on black rock glazed7 by ice, chasms8 and ridges9 and bridges of ice. It lit the snow slope to a frozen glare, penciled black shadow down the long furrow, and flashed at the furrow's end on a thing of metal and plastics, an artifact thrown down in the dead wilderness10.
Nothing grew, nothing flew, nothing walked, nothing talked. But the thing in the hollow was stirring in stiff jerks like a snake with its back broken or a clockwork toy running down. When the movements stopped, there was a click and a strange sound began. Thin, scratchy, inaudible more than a yard away, weary but still cocky, there leaked from the shape in the hollow the sound of a human voice.
"I've tried my hands and arms and they seem to work," it began. "I've wiggled my toes with entire success. It's well on the cards that I'm all in one piece and not broken up at all, though I don't see how it could happen. Right now I don't feel like struggling up and finding out. I'm fine where I am. I'll just lie here for a while and relax, and get some of the story on tape. This suit's got a built-in recorder, I might as well use it. That way even if I'm not as well as I feel, I'll leave a message. You probably know we're back and wonder what went wrong.
"I suppose I'm in a state of shock. That's why I can't seem to get up. Who wouldn't be shocked after luck like that?
"I've always been lucky, I guess. Luck got me a place in the Whale. Sure I'm a good astronomer11 but so are lots of other guys. If I were ten years older, it would have been an honor, being picked for the first long jump in the first starship ever. At my age it was luck.
"You'll want to know if the ship worked. Well, she did. Went like a bomb. We got lined up between Earth and Mars, you'll remember, and James pushed the button marked 'Jump'. Took his finger off the button and there we were: Alpha Centauri. Two months later your time, one second later by us. We covered our whole survey assignment like that, smooth as a pint12 of old and mild which right now I could certainly use. Better yet would be a pint of hot black coffee with sugar in. Failing that, I could even go for a long drink of cold water. There was never anything wrong with the Whale till right at the end and even then I doubt if it was the ship itself that fouled13 things up.
"That was some survey assignment. We astronomers14 really lived. Wait till you see—but of course you won't. I could weep when I think of those miles of lovely color film, all gone up in smoke.
"I'm shocked all right. I never said who I was. Matt Hennessy, from Farside Observatory15, back of the Moon, just back from a proving flight cum astronomical16 survey in the starship Whale. Whoever you are who finds this tape, you're made. Take it to any radio station or newspaper office. You'll find you can name your price and don't take any wooden nickels.
"Where had I got to? I'd told you how we happened to find Chang, hadn't I? That's what the natives called it. Walking, talking natives on a blue sky planet with 1.1 g gravity and a twenty per cent oxygen atmosphere at fifteen p.s.i. The odds17 against finding Chang on a six-sun survey on the first star jump ever must be up in the googols. We certainly were lucky.
"The Chang natives aren't very technical—haven't got space travel for instance. They're good astronomers, though. We were able to show them our sun, in their telescopes. In their way, they're a highly civilized18 people. Look more like cats than people, but they're people all right. If you doubt it, chew these facts over.
"One, they learned our language in four weeks. When I say they, I mean a ten-man team of them.
"Two, they brew19 a near-beer that's a lot nearer than the canned stuff we had aboard the Whale.
"Three, they've a great sense of humor. Ran rather to silly practical jokes, but still. Can't say I care for that hot-foot and belly-laugh stuff myself, but tastes differ.
"Four, the ten-man language team also learned chess and table tennis.
"But why go on? People who talk English, drink beer, like jokes and beat me at chess or table-tennis are people for my money, even if they look like tigers in trousers.
"It was funny the way they won all the time at table tennis. They certainly weren't so hot at it. Maybe that ten per cent extra gravity put us off our strokes. As for chess, Svendlov was our champion. He won sometimes. The rest of us seemed to lose whichever Chingsi we played. There again it wasn't so much that they were good. How could they be, in the time? It was more that we all seemed to make silly mistakes when we played them and that's fatal in chess. Of course it's a screwy situation, playing chess with something that grows its own fur coat, has yellow eyes an inch and a half long and long white whiskers. Could you have kept your mind on the game?
"And don't think I fell victim to their feline20 charm. The children were pets, but you didn't feel like patting the adults on their big grinning heads. Personally I didn't like the one I knew best. He was called—well, we called him Charley, and he was the ethnologist, ambassador, contact man, or whatever you like to call him, who came back with us. Why I disliked him was because he was always trying to get the edge on you. All the time he had to be top. Great sense of humor, of course. I nearly broke my neck on that butter-slide he fixed21 up in the metal alleyway to the Whale's engine room. Charley laughed fit to bust22, everyone laughed, I even laughed myself though doing it hurt me more than the tumble had. Yes, life and soul of the party, old Charley ...
"My last sight of the Minnow was a cabin full of dead and dying men, the sweetish stink23 of burned flesh and the choking reek24 of scorching25 insulation26, the boat jolting27 and shuddering28 and beginning to break up, and in the middle of the flames, still unhurt, was Charley. He was laughing ...
"My God, it's dark out here. Wonder how high I am. Must be all of fifty miles, and doing eight hundred miles an hour at least. I'll be doing more than that when I land. What's final velocity29 for a fifty-mile fall? Same as a fifty thousand mile fall, I suppose; same as escape; twenty-four thousand miles an hour. I'll make a mess ...
"That's better. Why didn't I close my eyes before? Those star streaks30 made me dizzy. I'll make a nice shooting star when I hit air. Come to think of it, I must be deep in air now. Let's take a look.
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1
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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3
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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4
furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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6
hummocks
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| n.小丘，岗( hummock的名词复数 ) | |
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7
glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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8
chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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9
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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10
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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11
astronomer
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| n.天文学家 | |
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12
pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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13
fouled
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| v.使污秽( foul的过去式和过去分词 )；弄脏；击球出界；（通常用废物）弄脏 | |
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14
astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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15
observatory
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| n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台 | |
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16
astronomical
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| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
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17
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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18
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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19
brew
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| v.酿造，调制 | |
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20
feline
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| adj.猫科的 | |
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21
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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22
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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23
stink
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| vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭 | |
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24
reek
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| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
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25
scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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26
insulation
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| n.隔离；绝缘；隔热 | |
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27
jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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28
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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29
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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30
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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