Solaris by Stanislaw Lem & Bill Johnston

Author:Stanislaw Lem & Bill Johnston [Lem, Stanislaw]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Premier Digital Publishing
Published: 2011-12-08T05:00:00+00:00

The dawn was red. The huge disk of the sun hung low over the horizon. There was a letter on the threshold. I tore open the envelope. Harey was in the bathroom; I could hear her humming to herself. From time to time she popped her head around the door, her hair all wet. I went up to the window and read:

Kelvin, we’re gotten bogged down. Sartorius is arguing for vigorous steps. He believes he’ll be able to destabilize the neutrino systems. For his experiments he needs a certain amount of plasma as initial G-matter. He’s proposing that you go on a reconnaissance and gather some plasma in a container. Do whatever you think right, but let us know your decision. I have no opinion either way. I don’t think I have anything at all anymore. I’d prefer you to do it, but only so we can move forward, or at least look as if we are. Otherwise there’s nothing left but to envy G.

Rat

PS Don’t come to the radio station. That you can still do for me. Best of all is to telephone.

My heart sank as I read the letter. I looked it over carefully one more time, tore it up and threw the scraps into the sink. Then I started looking for a space suit for Harey. That alone was awful. It was exactly like the last time. But she knew nothing about it, otherwise she wouldn’t have been so pleased when I told her I had to go on a short reconnaissance outside the Station and I’d like her to come along. We ate breakfast in the small galley (during which Harey barely swallowed a few mouthfuls) and went to the library.

I wanted to look over the literature on field problems and neutrino systems before I did what Sartorius wanted. I didn’t know how I was going to go about it, but I’d decided to keep an eye on what he was doing. It had occurred to me that this as-yet nonexistent neutrino annihilator could liberate Snaut and Sartorius, while I waited out the operation with Harey somewhere on the outside—in an aircraft for example. For some time I pored over the electronic catalogue, asking it questions to which it responded either by spitting out a slip of paper that read laconically “not in bibliography,” or inviting me into such a jungle of specialized research in physics that I didn’t know where to begin. For some reason I had an urge to remain in that large circular room with its smooth walls covered in a checkerwork of drawers with their multitudes of microfilms and electronic records. The library was located in the very center of the Station; as such it had no windows and was the most isolated place inside the steel shell. Who knows if that wasn’t the reason I felt so good there, despite the absolute failure of my search. I wandered about the large space till finally I came to a stop in front of a huge bookcase, reaching up to the ceiling and filled with books.

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