[ Link ] A Christmas Story by Arthur C. Clarke

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The Star
©Arthur C. Clarke
From
The Nine Billion Names of God: The Best Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
(1967: rpt. NY: Signet/NAL, 1974: 235-240)

All rights reserved; not to be reprinted without permission of the author

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Please read the story before responding to the poll.

An enjoyable and provocative short story. Thanks for sharing. I used to be quite a fan of Clarke and read most of his novels many years ago. It is hard to believe that our own planet and solar system will be torched in a few billion years too; yet it is inevitable when the sun turns into a red giant as predicted at the end of its life. Unless humans (whatever we have evolved into by then) have left the solar system we will all perish and all our cities and inventions and art... all will be destroyed.

Thanks, TM.

Science fiction is an existential metaphor, in that it allows us to tell stories about the human condition, without driving people off by addressing the human condition directly.

Dr. Isaac Asimov said: "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all ... Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition."

I'm not really a reader, but I put in the effort on this occasion. I have to admit, I found it tough going, but I will remember it always. I really enjoyed it.

I liked the ending and I even was able to stretch my imagination so I got some good imagery going on in my head.

Thank you Fnord.

This story presents one of the reasons why I'd like to be out there, exploring worlds beyond our own.

Cool story.

Reminds me of a PBS documentary about a real civilization here on earth.
It showcased an aging archeologist who devoted his life to uncovering the Minoan civilization, and retraces how he finally solved the mystery of what ended thier civilization: a giant volcanic tsunami destroying Crete in 1500 BC.

He reacted to that discovery much the way that the characters in the Clarke story reacted to finding that structure: "now that I finnally know what happened, I kinda wish I didnt know. The Minoans loved the sea, then one day the sea turned on them."

It also reminds of a certain very cinematic coupling of science fiction with biblical references in a TV commercial a few years ago. A boat shaped like Noah's ark ( but made of futuristic chrome metal like a space ship) is being boarded by desperate people carrying copies of Miles Davis's album "Kinda Blue" and other artistic masterworks up the gangplank just as the rains are starting to fall. The voice-over says "if the world were ending tomorrow what you choose to save?" And then he went on talk about whatever they were selling (cant even remember what the product was- some upscale car maybe). But that few seconds at the intro of the spot were so cool and mindbending that I still remember it.