"The Monster" is a science fiction short story by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt, originally published in Astounding in August 1948.
| "The Monster" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by A. E. van Vogt | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Astounding SF |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Media type | Magazine, paperback |
| Publication date | August 1948 |
Van Vogt considered the story one of his personal favorites; it has been one of his most frequently anthologized short works, sometimes under the alternate title "Resurrection," and was chosen as one of the best stories of 1948 by Isaac Asimov in 1983. It was included in several of van Vogt short-story collections, including 1952's Destination: Universe! and 1965's Monsters. It has been described as highly representative of the late Golden Age of Science Fiction.
Plot
editIn the distant future, an uninhabited Earth is discovered by the Ganae, an advanced, non-anthropoid species seeking potential colonies. The planet has suffered a mysterious catastrophe; all animal life is gone, but there is no evidence of warfare or of any other obvious cause; with largely-intact cities littered with the skeletons of humans who seem to have died without violence.
The Ganae have by happenstance discovered a technology they call the "locator," which can identify the minuscule fraction of stars that possess planets. They also possess a "reconstructor," a device capable of restoring an intelligent being (with all of its memories) to life from minimal biological remains. Curious as to the reason for the depopulation of Earth, the survey crew locates a museum and begin resurrecting humans in order to interrogate them. Initialiy, their efforts meet with no success: the first subject is an Egyptian pharaoh who interprets the Ganae as gods or demons, while the second is a Prohibition-era American who thinks he is having a drunken hallucination. The third, however, is a human from approximately 4000 AD, who immediately recognizes the Ganae as aliens, but can tell them nothing about the catastrophe. The two earlier resurrectees had been summarily executed after questioning, but this proves difficult with the third: he manages to take telepathic control of an example of advanced atomic technology on display in the museum and uses it to defend himself, killing several guards in the process. Forced to flee back to their mothership, the Ganae destroy the museum and surrounding city with an atomic weapon.
The survey team concludes that Earth is suitable for colonization, but remains concerned that the unknown cause of humanity's extinction could someday also threaten Ganae colonists. The captain reluctantly decides to revive another human for questioning. After awakening, however, the fourth human immediately teleports away; after reappearing before the survey team a few moments later, he effortlessly shrugs off all attempts to harm him, in the process demonstrating what the Ganae recognize as "mental control of nucleonic, nuclear, and gravitonic energies." The terrified Ganae - who have long feared encountering a species superior to themselves, and being held to account for the genocides they have committed - immediately destroy the locator and reconstructor aboard their mothership, to preserve the secret of the technology, and attempt to kill the human with another nuke, which does not go off. They then attempt to negotiate with the human, who freely reveals the cause of Earth's depopulation: a "nucleonic storm" dozens of light-years across, extending beyond humanity's limited range of teleportation. Without locator technology, humanity had only managed to find one other habitable planet, which was also in the path of the storm. When the Ganae assert that they must colonize Earth due to the great population pressure within their empire, the human suggests that they instead limit their population. This infuriates the aliens, for whom expansion is a biological imperative; the human calmly informs them that if they will not control their population, "we will." The Ganae leave, promising to return with a fleet large enough to overwhelm the human's powers and reduce the surface of the Earth to slag.
En route to the nearest Ganae world, the aliens are shocked to discover the human aboard their mothership. They realize that range of his teleportation is much greater than he has led them to believe, and deduce that he intends to accompany them back to their world, steal the reconstructor technology, then teleport back to Earth and revive more of his kind before the Ganae can return; even an entire fleet could do nothing against multiple humans with the same powers. Unwilling to transmit a warning home for fear that the human might trace their transmission beam and teleport ahead to its destination, the Ganae decide to sacrifice themselves, steering their nearly-indestructible mothership into a blue-white star and destroying the guidance system. Moments before the ship is destroyed, one of the Ganae comes to the horrifying realization that the human's brief disappearance upon his awakening had given him enough time to teleport aboard the ship and learn the secrets of both the reconstructor and the locator; he had only returned aboard to manipulate the Ganae into committing suicide before they could warn their empire, ensuring that "no alien mind" will have advance warning of the impending rebirth of the human race.