SPOILERS
| Added | Mon, 09/03/2020 |
| Release date | 1938
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| Original title | Who Goes There?
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| Феномены | |
| References |
"Who goes there?" (eng. "Who Goes There?", other variety translation: "Who's there?" "Who are you?" "Something") is a science fiction novel by John wood Campbell, Jr., who published it under the pseudonym don A. Stuart in the magazine "Astounding Stories" in 1938.
In 1973, the Association of science fiction writers of America acknowledged the novel as one of the best sci-Fi works of all time and made it in the anthology The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two.
The story is repeatedly portrayed: in 1951 released film "Something from another world", followed by the movie "the thing" (1982) and prequel (2011).
The artwork was also adapted for comic strip (1976) and radio show (2002).
Translated by «Yandex.Translator»
A group of scientists-researchers, which was isolated at the Antarctic base discovers in the ice spaceship, crashed 20 million years ago. Attempt to open the casing with a thermite mixture leads to the destruction of the ship, the body of which is made of magnesium. Scientists discover a frozen alien pilot. The stranger turns out to be a creature that can assume the form, memories and personality of any organism that devours, while maintaining its original body mass for further reproduction. So-called Something inherently turns into a physics Conant and trying to spend about 90 pounds of his body to transform into another creature – a dog sled. Pathologist Blair, who played for thawing the alien goes crazy, and the guilt and paranoia, wants to kill everyone on the station to save humanity. It is isolated in one of the rooms. Conant also falls into isolation because of security concerns.
Scientists are trying to figure out if one of them is replaced by an alien to destroy the surrogates before they can escape and take over the world. The task is almost impossible when they realize that Something is a telepath, able to read and inspire thought. Dr. Cooper offers to be tested, but it yields no results. The assistant to the commander macredie concludes: all beings in all stations, except one dog and some people replaced with surrogates. Animals are killed with electric current, and their bodies burned.
In the end, after the murder of one member of the group and the disclosure of his alien essence, macredie understands that even small fragments of the body of the alien is able to behave as independent organisms. Using the vulnerability to Something in the high temperature, it conducts a test for detecting the "converted" among the people that the vial of blood of each of the men turns down a hot wire. In case the blood "jumps" from the wire, the donor is immediately killed. When it comes to all the isolated Blair, reveals that he escaped.
Once the base is destroyed from inside monsters macredie and the two remaining members of the group go in search of Blair, the control of which captured the first form Something. Macredie manages to kill the alien using a blowtorch. The survivors discover that Something was close to completing the construction of the antigravity device at the nuclear energy that would allow him to make an escape.
Translated by «Yandex.Translator»
Phenomena in artwork: UFO
UFOs, or rather, the alien spaceship in the book practically is not described. It is indicated that the hull could damage a normal earthly tools, as it was made out of magnesium alloy with the addition of unknown earth metals. Due to such structure the outer hull of the ship quickly burned under the action of the thermite bomb.
Other information about the ship. I wonder how he was found:
As far as was known prior to our arrival at this place, it was directly over the South magnetic pole of the Earth. As you know, the arrow of the compass points here. More precise physical devices designed specifically for our expedition to the magnetic pole, discovered a side effect of a powerful magnetic field is eighty miles from our base. We sent in a research team. There is no need to dwell on the details. What we found was not a meteorite nor a Deposit of ore.
It was a space ship. The vehicle, driven by forces unknown to man, and came from outer space, 20 million years ago when Antarctica began to freeze. With the ship something happened, he lost control and made an emergency landing. Upon landing, it crashed into a cliff of solid granite. One of the crew members came out, but it's being lost in the Blizzard in ten steps from the ship.
The author points to a powerful magnetic field around the space ship of the aliens; such descriptions often found in the stories of witnesses of UFOs.
Translated by «Yandex.Translator»
Phenomena in artwork: The Alien
Description alien in the story is quite scarce:
In the skull of a strange form of still sticking a piece of ice. Three mad, hate-filled eyes burned alive with fire. Instead of hair his head was encased in a hideous writhing blue worms.
Also the alien have tentacles growing from the base of the neck.
The alien can take the form of earthly creatures: dogs and humans. It does this by reading information from the cells of the body eaten by them, and then gradually, but quickly turns to him. His transformation into the leader of the pack of local dogs is described as follows:
What we found was partially Chernak, and partly the creature that we found the ship. When dogs attacked it, it began to take form, the, in his opinion, suitable for battle, to turn into a monster of the planet.
The principle of turning is simple. The body of the alien consists of protoplasm, controlled by the cores. Digesting eaten, the stranger examines the cells of the tissues of its victim, and rebuilds the cells in their sample. The characters of the novel suggest that the creature is a lump that can copy simultaneously more than one creature, but several, separated at the same time on multiple objects. Each part becomes an independent organism. Each fragment of the alien has a well-developed instinct of self-preservation, which even a few drops of his blood acting as a separate body, squeezing in vitro and in trying to Dodge a red-hot platinum wire.
The author States that the ability of the alien to the copy is so good that to distinguish it from the original impossible even with the help of x-rays, microscope, or other ways.
The people next to sleeping in the ice of an alien dreams about his abilities, including that he is able to read and transmit thoughts.
The aliens are very smart. One of them, while in human form, just a week collected from wire coils, small magnets, glass tubes and vacuum tubes emitting a bright beam of blue light source of nuclear energy:
He distinguishes neutrons from heavy water, which our friend got ice.
On the basis of the collected alien energy source, the characters conclude that the planet it apparently revolved around the blue sun, and it was very hot.
Also, the stranger had produced anti-gravity backpack from flattened coffee cans.
The arrival of aliens on Earth remains undiscovered, but as a conclusion to the story that their landing was mere coincidence, since they came here twenty million years ago and never came back. From this the author concludes that we can hardly expect a return visit.
Translated by «Yandex.Translator»
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