Nemesis (short story)
Encyclopedia
"Exile of the Eons" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke
. It was first published in Super Science Stories
(March 1950) and was later collected in Expedition to Earth
under the title "Nemesis". It is also collected in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
.
The second part of the story skips ahead to the far future when humanity has colonized the entire Universe. Trevindor the Philosopher commits the unprecedented act of challenging the political and philosophical orthodoxy of this peaceful but uniform galaxy-spanning civilization, where dissent, criminality, violence and any form of conflict, are all virtually unknown. Instead of promising to give up his unorthodoxy, Trevindor chooses exile into future time, when the Sun is entering its red giant phase, and Earth is a parched, virtually lifeless desert. Trevindor explores the dying Earth, and has almost resigned himself to spending the rest of his life in isolation, when he finds the Master's hibernaculum, now exposed on the surface by millennia of erosion.
In the last part of the story, the two strands come together; Trevindor enters the chamber, and his presence apparently triggers the Master's revival. The Master is shocked to find another person in the chamber with him – more so when it becomes apparent that Trevindor can read his mind, and thinks there nothing unusual about telepathy. The Master begins to suspect the truth of what has happened, but Trevindor has also learned the truth about the Master – and he must now choose whether to share his exile with a man of almost inhuman barbarism, or to commit an act of inhuman barbarism himself.
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
. It was first published in Super Science Stories
Super Science Stories
Super Science Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine published by Popular Publications from 1940 and 1943, and again from 1949 to 1951. Popular launched it under their "Fictioneers" imprint, which they used for magazines paying writers less than one cent per word...
(March 1950) and was later collected in Expedition to Earth
Expedition to Earth
Expedition to Earth is a collection of science fiction short stories by Arthur C. Clarke.There are at least two variants of this book's table of contents - in different editions of the book . Both variants include the stories History Lesson and Encounter in the Dawn...
under the title "Nemesis". It is also collected in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, , first published in 2001, is a collection of almost every science fiction story shorter than novel length that Arthur C. Clarke has ever published: with 114 in all arranged in order of publication, "Travel by Wire!" in 1937 through to "Improving the...
.
Plot
The first part of the story opens in a near future world, at the climax of a devastating world war, in which “The Master”, a Hitler-like figure, has tried and failed to dominate the world by military force. As the enemy closes in on his last stronghold in the Himalayas, the Master seals himself in a suspended animation chamber buried deep in the mountains. He intends to hibernate for one hundred years, after which he assumes that his enemies will have forgotten about him, and then resume his plans for world domination,. However, a freak accident disables the mechanism which is supposed to revive him automatically, and the Master remains in suspended animation for billions of years while geological forces reshape the planet above him.The second part of the story skips ahead to the far future when humanity has colonized the entire Universe. Trevindor the Philosopher commits the unprecedented act of challenging the political and philosophical orthodoxy of this peaceful but uniform galaxy-spanning civilization, where dissent, criminality, violence and any form of conflict, are all virtually unknown. Instead of promising to give up his unorthodoxy, Trevindor chooses exile into future time, when the Sun is entering its red giant phase, and Earth is a parched, virtually lifeless desert. Trevindor explores the dying Earth, and has almost resigned himself to spending the rest of his life in isolation, when he finds the Master's hibernaculum, now exposed on the surface by millennia of erosion.
In the last part of the story, the two strands come together; Trevindor enters the chamber, and his presence apparently triggers the Master's revival. The Master is shocked to find another person in the chamber with him – more so when it becomes apparent that Trevindor can read his mind, and thinks there nothing unusual about telepathy. The Master begins to suspect the truth of what has happened, but Trevindor has also learned the truth about the Master – and he must now choose whether to share his exile with a man of almost inhuman barbarism, or to commit an act of inhuman barbarism himself.
See also
- The AwakeningThe Awakening (short story)"The Awakening" is a short story written by Arthur C. Clarke. There are two distinct versions of this short story.The first was originally published in Zenith Sci-fi fanzine issue number 4 in February 1942. This version was reprinted in The Best of Arthur C. Clarke. It is this version which...
for another Clarke story about the hibernating Master.