Mostly Piccies: August 2008

Nightfall. We take it for granted. When the sun sets, it will rise again to start another day. If there is a solar eclipse, the darkness is fleeting and the sun will be back. What if you've never been without a sun in the sky your whole life? How would nightfall seem to you then? Isaac Asimov asks this unusual question in his short story, "Nightfall".

Imagine you're on the planet Lagash. The planet on the whole is similar to our own with a major exception; there are six suns in the sky. The planet itself orbits around one, but there is virtually no night because there is almost always a sun in the sky.

As the story begins, the people are at the peak of their civilisation and only the weakest sun is visible, giving out too little light for their liking. At this time of turmoil, two points of view have arisen: the cultists’ beliefs and the scientists’ findings. This world had a cult that prophesied the coming Darkness and the Stars that shall make Man mad. For a long time, people thought they were quacks. How could any of the people of Lagash imagine darkness over the whole planet?

As for the scientists, they recently made two major discoveries:

One, the history of their civilisation is cyclic. At least nine previous civilisations comparable to the current one were destroyed by fire at the height of their culture.

Two, the Law of Universal Gravitation showed that the planet had a moon. And a full solar eclipse will occur shortly resulting in complete darkness on Lagash for half a day.

Significantly, the time between eclipses coincides with the length of the earlier civilisations. Surely it must be a coincidence, you say. After all, a little darkness never hurt anybody. I'm sure you've had fun in the dark. *wink* *wink*

But imagine yourselves in their shoes. Ever known the fear of the dark? Lots of children do, and yet, we as Earthlings have to face it everyday of our lives so generally we grow out of it. Even if we didn't there are always nightlights and such. Imagine what nightfall must be like to people who have never experienced it. Such a civilisation would have all the natural light they would need.

In fact on this planet, some one created a thrill ride. Was it a roller coaster, you ask? No. It was just a mile long tunnel ride in the dark.

Although the ride was wildly popular, that ride had to be closed down.

It changed people somehow. No, they didn't mutate into little green men. Although we wouldn't really know that they weren't that originally but I digress.

The ride had to be closed down because too many people became extreme claustrophobics. They refused to go indoors because they felt that the walls of the room were crushing in.

Why? Where else would you get darkness? It is in enclosed places where no light can sneak in like caves and photographic dark rooms. So the lack of light is always tied up with enclosed places. This was the effect of a 15-minute ride. Can you imagine the effect of half a day of nightfall?

On top of that, there were the mysterious Stars that the cultists talk about. What can Stars possibly be? We can’t see stars with one sun in the sky, so how would they see any with six? How can those twinkling lights in the sky make Men mad?

What is all this nightfall rubbish, they thought! Now, the scientists start telling them that it isn’t rubbish after all. Only the Cult can save them now! Down with the scientists! Save our souls from eternal damnation!

If the scientists are only now learning about the darkness, why has the Cult been anticipating the coming darkness?

Well, let's think about it. Not everybody will be affected by the darkness in the same way. There are possibly three types of people who may be immune to the madness. If they're careful, they would probably survive the coming chaos.

Firstly, there are the blind and those who knock themselves out with alcohol or drugs for the duration of the darkness.

Secondly, children under the age of about six probably don’t know any better. It would be just another new experience for them.

Lastly, there are those who are already mad. What difference would it make on them?

Their collective memories probably formed the basis of the cult mythology in the first place. Add to it the passing of time: fact became legend and myth.

So why would all the previous civilizations be destroyed by fire? Mad people generally don’t go around destroying cities.

But just answer this simple question: If you were in unfamiliar darkness, what would you want more than anything else; what would be what your every instinct would be screaming for? Light, of course! What’s the only way to get light, short of the sun? Bearing in mind that this is a civilization that has never had any need for the artificial light. Fire is light!

You burn something, you burn whatever you can get, wood and foliage, paper and books. When everything else is burnt, buildings and whole cities will go up in flames. The great fires will mark the end of one civilisation.

As the light returns, the people of Lagash will have to pick up the pieces and begin again. Living with their madness and claustrophobia, till generations later, they forget, rebuild and the cycle continues again. Only the cult remembers!

This is only a small sample of the short story by Isaac Asimov. Later on he collaborated with another author to write a full-blown novel based on this story. To this day, this is considered one of the best science fiction short stories ever. Hope you enjoyed reading my summary of it.