The Mysterious Force by J.-H. Rosny Aîné

Author:J.-H. Rosny Aîné [Aîné, J.-H. Rosny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Coat Press
Published: 2012-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

Part One

I. The Inexorable Night

Evening was about to embrace the ancient forest, and fear, made up of fears accumulated by countless generations, agitated the herbivorous animals. After so many millennia, the forest was almost unaware of humankind. In its obscure and inexhaustible perseverance, it remade the forms engendered before the days in which the Cromlechs and Pyramids were built. The trees remained masters of the region. From dawn to dusk, by day and by night, under red and silvery rays, unvanquished by time and vanquishers of space, they maintained their taciturn realm.

In a formidable region of the forest, branches cracked. A hairy creature detached itself from a baobab and lay down on the ground; its four black hands remained half-closed. It bore a rough resemblance to the deadly animal that had lit the first fire in the ancient darkness, but its jaws and torso were more like those of lions.

Long numbed by an opaque dream in which the past was misted over and the future did not feature at all, it finally voiced a hoarse and soft call. Four creatures emerged: females with the same black faces, the same muscular hands and strange yellow eyes that gleamed in the gloom. Six little ones followed, full of the joyful grace that is the gift of young creatures.

Then the male led his harem toward the Occident, where a vast red Sun, less harsh than the midday Sun, was sinking into the branches.

The gorillas reached the edge of a clearing, hollowed out by fire from the clouds, where the stumps of burned trees persisted, with islets of grasses and ferns. On the far side of the clearing, four monstrous heads rose up among the lianas. They were contemplating an extraordinary spectacle.

A fire! A few upright creatures were throwing branches and twigs on to it. The flames, still pale, were growing with the dying of the sunlight. In the brief twilight they became pink, then scarlet, and their life seemed ever more redoubtable.

The male lions having roared, with elemental force; the large gorilla growled dully. The lions had no knowledge of fire. They had never seen it running through the dry grass or devouring branches; they were only familiar with the importunate light of storms. In the depths of their instinct, however, they feared the heat and palpitation of the flames. The male gorilla knew. Three times he had encountered fire roaring in the forest and spreading immeasurably. Images passed through his opaque memory, of an immense flight, thousands of terrified feet and myriads of terrified wings. He bore scars on his arms and breast, which had been intolerable wounds.

While he paused, prey to sparse memories, his females had drawn closer; the lions, moved by curiosity and uncertainty, marched towards the unusual spectacle with light and heavy steps.

The upright creatures watched the large wild beasts approach.

Within the ring of fires, there were 15 men as black as the gorillas, resembling them in their heavy faces, enormous jaws and long arms. Seven white men and a woman of their race had no analogy to the anthropoid apes save for their hands.

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