Eden by Stanislaw Lem Read Free Book Online Page A

trunks. Cooling, now pink, the objects traveled up through the tubes. The Doctor walked on, head back, oblivious to everything, then suddenly almost fell and uttered a strangled cry.
    He had returned to the open space; before him the helical funnel was larger than ever as the volley of black objects, which had cooled completely after their travels, fell into it. The Doctor examined the sides of the funnel, now knowing in which direction the "delivery" would take place—and found himself back among the others gathered around the Engineer, who was still examining the black object. Again a huge bubble burst and spurted out more "finished product," and again a trough emerged.
    "I've figured the whole thing out! I can tell you!" he shouted.
    "Where were you? I was beginning to worry," the Captain said. "Have you really discovered something? Because the Engineer has drawn a blank."
    "A blank wouldn't be so bad!" growled the Engineer. He got to his feet, kicked the object furiously, and glared at the Doctor. "Well, what's the big discovery?"
    The Doctor smiled. "These things are drawn in here"—he pointed to the snout, which just then happened to open. "Now it's warming up inside, see? And now they're melting, fusing, being carried to the top in portions, where they're treated. Then, still red-hot, they drop to the bottom, underground—there must be another level there—and something else happens to them, and they come back up, by the same well, pale but still glowing. They journey up to the ceiling, fall into this"—he indicated the funnel—"and from there go into the trough, then the snout, melt, and so on and so on, forming, melting, forming."
    "Have you gone mad?" whispered the Engineer. On his forehead were large drops of sweat.
    "You don't believe it? See for yourself."
    The Engineer did, twice, which took him a good hour. By the time they returned to the trough, which was filling up with a new quadrangle of the "finished product," it was growing dark; the light was turning gray.
    The Engineer looked demented; his face twitched. The others, though astounded, were less shaken than he by this mystery.
    "We'd better leave now," said the Captain. "It may be difficult once it's dark." He took the Engineer by the arm. The Engineer first let himself be pulled away, but then suddenly tore free, ran back to the black object which they had left behind, and lifted it with difficulty.
    "You want to take that with you?" asked the Captain. "All right. Someone give him a hand."
    The Physicist grasped the earlike swellings and helped the Engineer with his burden. In this way they reached the concave wall. The Doctor quietly moved through the glistening, syruplike "waterfall" and found himself back on the plain, in the cool evening air. With joy he took a deep breath, filling his lungs. The others emerged behind him; the Engineer and the Physicist lugged the black object to the spot where they had left their knapsacks and dropped it on the ground.
    The portable stove was lit, some water was heated, and meat concentrate dissolved in it. The men ate in silence, ravenous. It was now completely dark. The stars had come out, and their brilliance increased minute by minute as the murky brushwood of the distant copse disappeared into the night. Only the stove's bluish flames swaying gently in the breeze provided light. The high wall of the "factory" behind them made no sound, and it was impossible to see, in the darkness, whether the horizontal waves were still rippling across it.
    "It gets dark here as in the tropics back home," said the Chemist. "Is this the equatorial zone?"
    "I guess," said the Captain. "Though I don't even know the planet's angle with respect to the ecliptic."
    "But that must be known."
    "Yes, but the data are on the ship."
    Silence. The cold was beginning to bite, so they wrapped themselves in blankets, and the Physicist began to pitch their tent, inflating the canvas until it was a taut hemisphere with a small entrance at