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Proxima Centauri (short story)
Encyclopedia
"Proxima Centauri" is a science fiction
short story
by Murray Leinster
that first appeared in the March 1935 issue of Astounding Stories. Unusually for the time, the story adhered to the laws of physics as they were known, showing a starship that was limited by the speed of light
, and which took several years to travel between the stars. In his comments on the story in Before the Golden Age
, Isaac Asimov
thought that "Proxima Centauri" must have influenced Robert A. Heinlein
's later story "Universe
" and stated that it influenced his own Pebble in the Sky
.
after a seven-year voyage. The voyage was marred by a mutiny among the crew, and the ship is still divided between a small group of officers who control the Adastra and the remainder of the crew, whom the officers refer to disparagingly as Muts, short for mutineers.
A young Mut named Jack Gary has been picking up and studying transmissions from a race native to the Proxima Centauri system. This has earned him the confidence of Captain Bradley, the love of Bradley's daughter Helen, and the hatred of the Adastra's first officer, Commander Alstair, who also has romantic designs upon Helen. Much to Alstair's disgust, Captain Bradley raises Gary to officer status in recognition of his work with the Centaurian transmissions. Shortly after the elderly Bradley's death, Gary discovers that a Centaurian spaceship is approaching the Adastra, and he suspects that their intention is hostile. The Centaurians confirm his suspicions when they fire a radiation beam at the ship. Although the Adastra has not been harmed, Alstair has the ship play dead to fool the Centaurians into thinking they have succeeded in wiping out the crew. The Centaurian ship docks with the Adastra, and a boarding party attacks the crew. The boarding party is defeated, and the Centaurian ship departs.
Studying the captured leader of the Centaurian boarding party makes it clear that the Centaurians are mobile, carnivorous plants that feed on animals, and that they look on the crew of the Adastra as a highly valuable food source. Now that the Adastra has entered their system, the Centaurians will be able to trace their course back to Earth. As a fleet of Centaurian ships approaches the Adastra, Gary learns that Earth has launched a second starship for Proxima Centauri.
The defenseless Adastra is surrounded by the Centaurian fleet, and boarded. The entire crew is consumed by Centaurians except for Alstair, Jack Gary, Helen Bradley, and half a dozen officers. The Centaurian leader orders all the Adastra's records, equipment, and animals sent on board an automated ship, along with Gary and Bradley. While Alstair and the remaining officers pilot the Adastra to Proxima Centauri I, the Centaurian homeworld, the automated ship will be flown to Proxima Centauri II, an Earthlike world that has long since been stripped of its native animal life and abandoned by the Centaurians. After Gary and Bradley land on Proxima Centauri II and release the animals there, Alstair reaches the Centaurian homeworld. Alstair rigs the Adastra's engines to explode, setting off a chain reaction that will destroy the Centaurian homeworld and exterminate the Centaurians, leaving Gary and Bradley to await the arrival of the next ship from Earth.
dismissed the story as "bottom of the trunk," with no virtues beyond "fast action." Everett F. Bleiler
reported that the story contains "some good material, some cliche, and some nonsense," concluding that it "seems much less successful" than when it was originally published.
had ignored the lightspeed barrier
in writing about interstellar travel. Leinster not only worked within the constraints of the theory of relativity
, he even calculated that a trip to Proxima Centauri would take seven years if the ship traveled under a constant acceleration and deceleration of one gravity. Leinster also notes that such an acceleration would bring the ship to a significant fraction of the speed of light, though he fails to take account of the resulting time dilation
, which would reduce the subjective length of the trip by at least two years.
Asimov also writes, "The thing I remember most clearly over the years about 'Proxima Centauri' is the peculiar horror I felt at the thought of a race of intelligent plants that lusted after animal food. It is almost an unfailing recipe for a startling science fiction story to begin by inverting some thoroughly accepted situation, something so ordinary as to be almost disregarded. Of course, animals eat plants, and of course, animals are quick and more or less intelligent, while plants are motionless and utterly passive (except for a few insect-eating plants, which can be disregarded). But what if intelligent and carnivorous plants fed on animals, eh?"
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Murray Leinster
Murray Leinster
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history...
that first appeared in the March 1935 issue of Astounding Stories. Unusually for the time, the story adhered to the laws of physics as they were known, showing a starship that was limited by the speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
, and which took several years to travel between the stars. In his comments on the story in Before the Golden Age
Before the Golden Age
Before the Golden Age: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s is an anthology of 25 science fiction stories from 1930s pulp magazines edited by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in April 1974....
, Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
thought that "Proxima Centauri" must have influenced Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
's later story "Universe
Orphans of the Sky
Orphans of the Sky is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, consisting of two parts: "Universe" and its sequel, "Common Sense" . The two novellas were first published together in book form in 1963. "Universe" was also published separately in 1951 as a 10¢ Dell paperback...
" and stated that it influenced his own Pebble in the Sky
Pebble in the Sky
Pebble in the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1950. This work is his first novel — parts of the Foundation series had appeared from 1942 onwards, in magazines, but Foundation was not published in book form until 1951...
.
Plot summary
Earth's first starship, the Adastra, is approaching Proxima CentauriProxima Centauri
Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star about 4.2 light-years distant in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes, the Director of the Union Observatory in South Africa, and is the nearest known star to the Sun, although it is too faint to be seen with the naked eye...
after a seven-year voyage. The voyage was marred by a mutiny among the crew, and the ship is still divided between a small group of officers who control the Adastra and the remainder of the crew, whom the officers refer to disparagingly as Muts, short for mutineers.
A young Mut named Jack Gary has been picking up and studying transmissions from a race native to the Proxima Centauri system. This has earned him the confidence of Captain Bradley, the love of Bradley's daughter Helen, and the hatred of the Adastra's first officer, Commander Alstair, who also has romantic designs upon Helen. Much to Alstair's disgust, Captain Bradley raises Gary to officer status in recognition of his work with the Centaurian transmissions. Shortly after the elderly Bradley's death, Gary discovers that a Centaurian spaceship is approaching the Adastra, and he suspects that their intention is hostile. The Centaurians confirm his suspicions when they fire a radiation beam at the ship. Although the Adastra has not been harmed, Alstair has the ship play dead to fool the Centaurians into thinking they have succeeded in wiping out the crew. The Centaurian ship docks with the Adastra, and a boarding party attacks the crew. The boarding party is defeated, and the Centaurian ship departs.
Studying the captured leader of the Centaurian boarding party makes it clear that the Centaurians are mobile, carnivorous plants that feed on animals, and that they look on the crew of the Adastra as a highly valuable food source. Now that the Adastra has entered their system, the Centaurians will be able to trace their course back to Earth. As a fleet of Centaurian ships approaches the Adastra, Gary learns that Earth has launched a second starship for Proxima Centauri.
Reception
L. Sprague de CampL. Sprague de Camp
Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction and fantasy books, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors...
dismissed the story as "bottom of the trunk," with no virtues beyond "fast action." Everett F. Bleiler
Everett F. Bleiler
Everett Franklin Bleiler was an editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called...
reported that the story contains "some good material, some cliche, and some nonsense," concluding that it "seems much less successful" than when it was originally published.
Story notes
As Asimov notes in Before the Golden Age, earlier writers such as E. E. SmithE. E. Smith
Edward Elmer Smith, Ph.D., also, E. E. Smith, E. E. "Doc" Smith, Doc Smith, "Skylark" Smith, and Ted was a food engineer and early science fiction author who wrote the Lensman series and the Skylark series, among others...
had ignored the lightspeed barrier
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
in writing about interstellar travel. Leinster not only worked within the constraints of the theory of relativity
Theory of relativity
The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
, he even calculated that a trip to Proxima Centauri would take seven years if the ship traveled under a constant acceleration and deceleration of one gravity. Leinster also notes that such an acceleration would bring the ship to a significant fraction of the speed of light, though he fails to take account of the resulting time dilation
Time dilation
In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an observed difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses. An accurate clock at rest with respect to one observer may be measured to tick at...
, which would reduce the subjective length of the trip by at least two years.
Asimov also writes, "The thing I remember most clearly over the years about 'Proxima Centauri' is the peculiar horror I felt at the thought of a race of intelligent plants that lusted after animal food. It is almost an unfailing recipe for a startling science fiction story to begin by inverting some thoroughly accepted situation, something so ordinary as to be almost disregarded. Of course, animals eat plants, and of course, animals are quick and more or less intelligent, while plants are motionless and utterly passive (except for a few insect-eating plants, which can be disregarded). But what if intelligent and carnivorous plants fed on animals, eh?"
Publication history
- Sidewise in Time, edited by Murray Leinster, Shasta, 1950
- Conquest of the Stars, Malian Press, 1952
- Monsters and Such, edited by Murray Leinster, Avon, 1959
- Before the Golden AgeBefore the Golden AgeBefore the Golden Age: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s is an anthology of 25 science fiction stories from 1930s pulp magazines edited by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in April 1974....
, edited by Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
, Doubleday, 1974 - The Best of Murray Leinster, edited by Brian Davis, Corgi, 1976
- The Road to Science Fiction 2: From Wells to HeinleinThe Road to Science FictionThe Road to Science Fiction is a series of science fiction anthologies edited by American science fiction author, scholar and editor James Gunn. Written for use in the classroom to teach the evolution of science fiction literature, the series is now available as mass market publications.The...
, edited by James GunnJames Gunn (author)- Further reading :James E. Gunn The Listeners, BenBella Books, ISBN 1-932100-12-1 -External links:*...
, Mentor, 1979 - First Contacts, edited by Joe Rico, NESFA Press, 1998