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Title: After Worlds Collide
Series:
Bronson Beta #2
Authors: Philip Wylie and Edwin
Balmer
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre:
SF
Pages: 193
Words: 75.5K
From Wikipedia.org
Bronson
Alpha, the larger of two rogue planets, collided with and destroyed
the Earth, before leaving the solar system. However, its companion,
the roughly Earth-sized Bronson Beta remained behind and settled into
a stable, but eccentric, orbit around the sun.
In a
desperate attempt to save a portion of humanity, the United States
and several other countries feverishly constructed space arks to
transport a select few to Bronson Beta. The Americans, under the
leadership of Cole Hendron, managed to launch two space Arks,
carrying hundreds of people, as well as the animals, plants and
knowledge they will need to hopefully survive on the alien planet.
Both American ships reach this new world, as do at least two others,
though all four become separated and each is unaware of the fates of
the others. There is a reference in When Worlds Collide to a French
ship exploding in Earth's upper atmosphere shortly after launch.
The
survivors of Hendron's own smaller Ark set out to establish a colony,
aware (from a road they find) that an alien civilization once existed
on Bronson Beta. Tony Drake and another associate scout out for
suitable farmland, but during their return journey following the
alien road, the two men come across a vehicle. After a mysterious
disease strikes the camp, killing three colonists, Hendron forbids
exploration, but some of the colonists defy him and strike out,
bringing back wood from a distant forest. That night, an aircraft
passes near the camp, beating a hasty retreat when the campfire is
spotted.
Kyto,
Tony's Japanese former manservant, finds a piece of blank paper
blowing in the wind: watermarked in English, it provides a first clue
that another group of Earth survivors have landed on Bronson Beta. It
is revealed later in the story that a group made up of Germans,
Russians and Japanese intend to establish a "soviet" called
"The Dominion of Asian Realists."
At
Hendron's order, an exploratory aircraft is built from remnants of
the Ark and its rockets, and Tony Drake sets off with writer Eliot
James. They follow the road and discover a domed city. Finding a
native poster portraying a Bronson Beta female, Drake and James learn
that the Bronson Beta natives were essentially humanoid and had
considerably higher technology than humanity. This species built five
such cities to survive their world's departure into interstellar
space, but ultimately decided to simply become extinct after they
were completed. Later in the story, once a linguist within the group
deciphers the Bronson Beta language, it is learned that the five
domed cities were named Gorfulu, Khorlu, Strahl, Danot and Wend by
their builders.
The
Americans explore the city (revealed to have been the one named
Wend). Then they fly south and discover a searchlight in the dark. It
comes from the second American Ark, which had a disastrous landing.
There is a joyous reunion with its commander, Dave Ransdell.
Ransdell's camp also encountered a mysterious aircraft.
Tony
and Ransdell fly back to Hendron's camp, finding that Hendron is
visibly deteriorating in health and mind. Tony is jealous that
Ransdell apparently will become their new leader and will also have
Eve, Hendron's daughter, as his wife. Eve, acting as Hendron's
regent, sends Tony to deliver a radio to the Ransdell camp. The first
message reports that Hendron's camp has come under some sort of
attack. Tony and one of Ransdell's men investigate; they find
everyone lying on the ground.
They
discover everyone is alive, but drugged; they give the doctor
antidotes and then hear an aircraft approaching, occupied by men with
Slavic features. After the aircraft leaves, Tony prepares weapons
(rocket tubes from the Ark) to defend the camp. An armada arrives
soon afterward, but is totally obliterated.
The
people gradually wake up. Hendron hands command over to Tony, to
Ransdell's relief. Tony decides to occupy one of the alien cities,
not the one they found, but another one nearby (Khorlu — later
renamed Hendron-Khorlu); they follow the road there.
During
the trip, they encounter an alien automobile driven by a British
woman; she explains that a British ship also made it from Earth, but
landed in a lake; they were found the next day by the "Dominion
of Asian Realists" group, which Hendron nicknames "Midianites",
and enslaved. The Midianites' society is structured like an ant farm,
the colony being all important and the people nothing, but the top
rulers live luxuriously.
Tony's
group settle into the alien city, and tractors are sent to bring
Ransdell's contingent. Tony names their new home Hendron (later
renamed as Hendron-Khorlu after the language of Bronson Beta's
original inhabitants is deciphered). Hendron himself died just as the
convoy came into view of the city. The scientists manage, with the
Briton's help, to figure out how to charge the batteries and operate
the machinery. They also find hangars housing alien aircraft; some
are armed and used for air defense.
Meanwhile,
the planet is approaching aphelion, and nobody is entirely certain
that it is in a stable orbit around the sun. The weather gets colder,
and one night, the Midianites, who have settled in the largest domed
city (Gorfulu, which also controlled power to the other four cities),
disconnect Hendron-Khorlu's power supply. One woman defects to the
Midianites, while four others attempt to reach Gorfulu using a
high-speed car in an underground service tunnel. They are
unsuccessful, but the female "defector" kills the Midianite
leader, defeats his key people, and allows the British to take
control.
The
Dominion is defeated, and the victorious American/British coalition
settles into the domed cities, along with the former Midianites.
While challenges remain, their immediate needs for shelter, energy,
and food are taken care of. The story ends on an optimistic note with
a reference to the first pregnancy among the colonists, Eve and
Tony's, and the confirmation that they have passed aphelion and are
definitely locked into orbit around the sun.
The last two times I recorded that I read I gave it 4stars. This time
around it wasn't so lucky. I suspect almost all of that change is
completely on my part though.
This was a good sequel and it fit well with the first book. My main
issue was how some of the characters reacted to the alien cities and
the leftovers from their civilization. The biggest example of this
was Tony Drake. In the first book he was Cole Hendron's chosen
successor and without Drake, it is doubtful the group would have made
it over to Bronsen Beta. In this book, his role of leader hasn't been
confirmed yet but he's out exploring one of the cities and he's as
nervous as a school girl about the aliens. He keeps expecting them to
pop up and introduce themselves OR he's obsessing about where all the
bodies are. And Beta has supposedly been sailing through space for
millions of years. For a hard headed, powerful man, Tony was acting
out of character. I wish the authors had used someone else to display
this fear instead of Tony.
The Axis and Allies thing going on between the groups was ok and was
far enough removed in time to not bother me. Really, the authors
didn't spend much time on much sort of action in this book. The focus
was on exploring the city and learning about the Beta's. And that did
get a good hard eye roll from me. In mere weeks or months at most,
both groups had decoded an alien language and civilization well
enough to not only work their cities but to understand them. And the
aliens looked almost like humans, just “advanced”, ie, they
didn't wage war and had mastery of technology. It was a very 1930's
attitude for sure.
The other big thing for me was that the day and night on Beta were
twice as long as what had been for Earth. And the humans just kind of
roll with it. They go to bed late, get up early and ho-dee-hum, it's
business as usual. There's also a throwaway line about how the Beta's
were used to such a long day and night. I've worked the night shift
and trust me, it doesn't take much to throw your whole life out of
whack if your sleeping patterns are shifted. We were made for a 24hr
cycle and to just shrug off the change is unbelievable to me. The
part about the Beta's is even more unbelievable because a day/night
cycle is based on the rotation of a planet around its sun and we're
supposed to believe that Beta spin here in our solar system is the
same as it was when it circled its original sun? Epic Eye Roll.
The overall story was good, but the tension of the world ending
wasn't there, the heroism caused by such tension wasn't there and
there were no cool “cataclysmic” scenes like in When Worlds
Collide. If I re-read this series again, I'll definitely be
reading this sequel. When & After are a matched
pair, just not equal.
★★★☆☆
