The Forgotten Enemy
Encyclopedia
"The Forgotten Enemy" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke
that appeared in the science fiction magazine New Worlds
, in August 1949. It was included in Clarke's collection of science fiction short stories Reach for Tomorrow
, in 1956. It shows a London professor lonely holding out in his native city that has been evacuated due to an upcoming ice age
.
Professor Millward has stayed with his books, when the country was abandoned more than twenty years ago, and lost track of the others' attempts to colonize the rapidly transforming jungles and deserts of the south, also via the radio, some years later. He is now sheltering from the cold in the edifice of a London university. Over months, he is haunted by a mysterious sound from the north, which he attributes to "mountains on the march", in his dreams. Roaming about the snow-bound familiar roads and houses of the city long after the last stray dogs have disappeared from them, he is surprised by wolves, reindeers, and polar bears, and therefore ponders if the roaring in the north may be caused by an expedition from North America across the frozen-over Atlantic or by efforts to free the land from ice and snow with atomic bombs. When he climbs to his usual look-out, on an especially clear day, he finally detects the real origin of the northern sound, catching sight of the glitter of a threatening mass of glacial ice that is relentlessly advancing towards him.
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,...
that appeared in the science fiction magazine New Worlds
New Worlds (magazine)
New Worlds was a British science fiction magazine which was first published professionally in 1946. For 25 years it was widely considered the leading science fiction magazine in Britain, publishing 201 issues up to 1971...
, in August 1949. It was included in Clarke's collection of science fiction short stories Reach for Tomorrow
Reach for Tomorrow
Reach for Tomorrow is a collection of short stories by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. The stories all originally appeared in a number of different publications.-Contents:...
, in 1956. It shows a London professor lonely holding out in his native city that has been evacuated due to an upcoming ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
.
Plot summary
The Solar System has dived into a belt of cosmic dust; Britain's climate has changed from temperate to arctic.Professor Millward has stayed with his books, when the country was abandoned more than twenty years ago, and lost track of the others' attempts to colonize the rapidly transforming jungles and deserts of the south, also via the radio, some years later. He is now sheltering from the cold in the edifice of a London university. Over months, he is haunted by a mysterious sound from the north, which he attributes to "mountains on the march", in his dreams. Roaming about the snow-bound familiar roads and houses of the city long after the last stray dogs have disappeared from them, he is surprised by wolves, reindeers, and polar bears, and therefore ponders if the roaring in the north may be caused by an expedition from North America across the frozen-over Atlantic or by efforts to free the land from ice and snow with atomic bombs. When he climbs to his usual look-out, on an especially clear day, he finally detects the real origin of the northern sound, catching sight of the glitter of a threatening mass of glacial ice that is relentlessly advancing towards him.