El sol de nuestro sistema es el Castor C, una estrella enana roja de sistema binario, de la que ya conocemos bastante, y otra estrella destellante, que forma pareja con la anterior (para que haya más variación). Medea es un satélite, básicamente igual que la Tierra, de astro superjupiteriano inventado por mí. La rotación cerrada hace que una cara sea calentada por Argo, el superjupiteriano, y otra cara sea calentada alternativamente por los soles Castor C. Una órbita inclinada genera zonas permanentes y alternantes de luz y oscuridad, como las regiones ártica y antártica de la Tierra

Tenebra, die Welt der Extreme, hatte sie eingefangen und ließ sie nicht mehr los. Nur der irdische Robotlehrer — eine Maschine konnte den Versuch zur Rettung der beiden Sternenkinder aus der Hölle von Tenebra unternehmen. Eine Temperatur von über 180 Grad, und ein Luftdruck von 800 Atmosphären und eine planetare Oberfläche, die täglich tiefgreifenden Veränderungen unterworfen war, machten der Maschine nichts aus. Der Autor hat seit Jahren in den Kreisen der SFAnhänger einen ausgezeichneten Ruf, weil er es wie kaum ein anderer versteht, die Reaktionen von Lebewesen in einer fremden Umgebung lebensecht zu schildern

Oculto por las eternas tinieblas de su espesa atmósfera. Tenebra era un planeta hostil, un lugar con una gravedad aplastante, con 370 grados de temperatura, con una corteza en perpetuo cambio sobre la que flotaban gigantes gotas de lluvia. A pesar de ello… allí había vida, vida inteligente. Durante más de veinte años, científicos terrestres estudiaron a sus habitantes desde un laboratorio en órbita... y habían encontrado un medio de entrenar y educar a un grupo de ellos. ¡Luego ocurrió lo inesperado! Una joven terrestre y el hijo de un poderoso e iracundo diplomático extraterrestre quedaron encerrados en un batiscafo que flotaba hacia la mortal superficie del planeta. ¡Solo los primitivos tenebritas podían rescatarlos!

Shrouded in eternal gloom by its own thick atmosphere, Tenebra was a hostile planet: a place of crushing gravity, 370-degree temperatures, a constantly shifting crust and giant drifting raindrops. Uncompromising—yet there was life, intelligent life on Tenebra. For more than twenty years, Earth scientists had studied the natives from an orbiting laboratory and had even found a way to train and educate a few of them

Hekla – an ice-age planet in Cold Front (short story, Astounding July 1946)

Az Elveszett rakéta folytatását tartja kezében az olvasó. A Dharwn távoli, sivár de ásványi kincsekben gazdag óriásbolygóján a gravitáció háromezerszer nagyobb mint a Földön. Gyilkos légköre is végzetes volna az emberre, aki a lábát sem teheti a Dhrawn felszínére. Barlennan kapitány tengerész népe azonban szerződést kötött a földiekkel. A tűrőképes, hernyószerű meszkliniták elvállalják a felderítő munkát és a kutatási feladatokat, melyek persze még az ő számukra sem veszélytelenek. De Barlennan kapitány nemcsak a földiek számára gyűjti az adatokat. Titkos célja az ősi emberi civilizáció vívmányainak a csillagközi utazást is lehetővé tevő technológiának a megszerzése. Sikerül-e szándékait megvalósítani? Hogyan alakul a szövetségre lépett emberek és meszkliniták hátsó szándékkal terhelt viszonya? Erről szól az amerikai Hal Clement kötete. 

Stranded on an alien planet, light years from home, wandering from blistering heat to searing cold, Nils Kruger was not a happy man. So when he met another being — even though it wasn’t human — things seemed to be looking up. The alien might be helpless, or it might be dangerous, but one thing was for sure — they stood a better chance for survival if they worked together. But as the two creatures overcame their mutual suspicion, as they worked together, as the language barrier was broken down, Nils came to a terrifying conclusion — this alien was more intelligent than a human. And to it, Nils was the alien…

Er ist ein Allen, und er ist ein Jäger. Sein Körper besteht aus einem vier Pfund schweren Gallertklumpen aus einer äußerst feinstrukturierten Sustanz, die in jede andere Materie eindringen und mit dieser eine Symbiose eingehen kann. Seit über sieben Jahren lebt der Jäger auf der Erde im Körper des 22-jährigen Bob. Die ganze Zeit über hat er seinen „Gastgeber“ vor Infektionen bewahrt und seine Verletzungen geheilt Trotzdem wird Bobs Körper von Tag zu Tag schwächer; der Jäger ist machtlos. Er weiß nur einen Ausweg: Spezialisten seiner Spezies müssen Bob behandeln. Nach der College-Ausbildung in den USA kehren Bob und der Jäger auf Bobs Heimatinsel im Pazifik zurück. Sie beginnen nach dem gesunkenen Raumschiff des Verbrechers zu suchen, auf dessen Spur der Jäger einst auf die Erde gekommen war. Vielleicht könnte der Jäger über das Wrack Kontakt mit seinen Leuten aufnehmen. Doch Bob und seinen Freunden passieren die merkwürdigsten Unfälle. Befindet sich ein Forschungsteam der Jäger-Spezies schon auf der Erde? Oder hat der Verbrecher überlebt und treibt weiter sein Unwesen?

Auf Sarr taucht ein neues, gefährliches Rauschgift auf. Sallman Ken erhält den Auftrag, dessen Herkunft zu erforschen und die Einfuhr zu unterbinden. Als Sallman die Rauschgiftwelt im Sichtschirm seines Raumschiffs auftauchen sieht, stockt ihm der Atem. Auf einem solchen Planeten soll es tatsächlich intelligentes Leben geben? Denn was er sieht, muß ihm als Bewohner einer Hitzewelt wie die Hölle erscheinen. So existiert Schwefel dort nicht als Gas, sondern in fester Form, und Wasser ist in flüssigem Zustand vorhanden. HAL CLEMENT gilt als Meister des wissenschaftlich orientierten Science-Fiction-Romans. Stets gelingt es ihm, Fakten und Fiction nahtlos miteinander zu verschmelzen. Mit Eiswelt bietet er dem Leser die Möglichkeit, Empfindungen und Eindrücke aus der Perspektive eines Aliens nachzuvollziehen, Erfahrungen zu machen, die allein in der Science Fiction möglich sind. Originaltitel: ICEWORLD © Copyright 1953 by Hal Clement

Dhrawn era un planeta que, entre otros inconvenientes, tenía una gravedad aplastante, cuarenta veces superior a la terrestre. Era evidentemente imposible para los terrícolas explorarlo. Por lo tanto, para llevarlo a cabo necesitarían colocar sobre aquella superficie a alguien dotado de inteligencia e iniciativa, pero psicológicamente más apropiado que los humanos. Los seres vivientes que mejor se ajustaban a esas exigencias eran los pequeños mesklinitas, dotados de una constitución resistente. Aunque se encontraban en un estadio cultural inferior, los humanos pensaban que no convenía suministrarles una elevada ayuda tecnológica para su cometido. En cambio, deberían controlar la exploración desde su seguro satélite en órbita a seis millones de millas de Dhrawn. Hasta el momento de descender allí, los tenaces, valientes e inteligentes mesklinitas estaban decididos a no ser contratados y deseosos por sí mismos de aceptar el fantástico desafío que las fuerzas de Dhrawn les presentaban. Nominado por el premio Hugo en 1971

The blockbuster new novel by science fiction great Hal Clement, set in an alien-run universe created by Isaac Asimov himself. This is the story of six vastly different starfaring races coexisting under a precarious truce — an interstellar community to which the human race has recently been added

Discover MESKLIN — Gravity: 3g at the equator, 700g at the poles! Hal Clement is a Grand Master of SF, and the one most associated with the subgenre of hard SF. From his classic stories in Astounding in the 1940s through his novels of the 1950s and on to the recent Half Life, he has made a lasting impression on SF readers, and on writers, too. For many of them, Clement’s work is the model of how to write hard SF, and this book contains the reasons why. Here are all the tales of bizarre, unforgettable Mesklin: the classic novel Mission of Gravity and its sequel, Star Light, as well as the short stories “Under” and “Lecture Demonstration.” Also included is “Whirligig World,” the famous essay Clement published in Astounding in 1953. It describes the rigorous process he used to create his intriguingly plausible high-gravity planet, with its odd flattened shape, its day less than eighteen minutes long, and its many-limbed, noble natives. Come to Mesklin and learn why The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction called Mission of Gravity “one of the best loved novels in SF.”

An expedition team of scientists is exploring the planet Mercury. The constant rumblings of earthquakes and wind have shaken their ship, the Albireo. A small explorative party departs on tractors. It’s then when the volcanic reaction starts. And it looks like the end of the team unless man’s intelligence can beat the malevolent nature of a fiery planet!

Iceworld is a humorously pointed novel of clashing perspectives, which we may designate as hot versus cold. Even for readers who have not seen H. R. van Dongen's fine cover painting for the novel's first installment in Astounding, Hal Clement does not keep us long in suspense that the planet which is unaccessible because of its climate of extreme cold is our own Earth. In contrast, the dismayed observer, the alien Sallman Ken (also on the cover, not to scale!), is truly hot-blooded. Clement genially introduces mitigating circumstances: Earth, really, is not as bad as all that. Some people are even quite fond of it. Ken, of course, was prejudiced, as anyone is likely to be against a world where water is a liquid — when he has grown up breathing gaseous sulfur and, at rare intervals, drinking molten copper chloride. The mitigating circumstances are mutual, because we have two viewpoint threads alternating here, that of Sallman Ken who is evolved to live comfortably on his quite hot home-planet; Ken is a science teacher, not a scientist or expert but possessing a good general scientific knowledge. The other viewpoint is that of several members of a Terrestrial family who of course are evolved to live comfortably on our quite cold planet. The characters all are engaging, and Iceworld weaves their viewpoints, thoughts, and actions very well. The family on Earth includes young people of various ages, so this is a fine novel for teenagers as well as adults. Sallman Ken has been brought to Earth — or at least as close to it as the Iceworld’s destructive climate will allow — to solve a technical problem for a criminal syndicate of his race. They want a product found on Earth, one which is extremely valuable but so far unsynthesizable. What is it, in its natural state? How to boost their profits by getting or creating more of it? As defined, a general scientific problem, which is why the syndicate has engaged a schoolteacher with an all-around scientific knowledge. This in fact is Clement's own background and profession, so despite Ken's alienness, his character is drawn true to life. The obvious physical barrier and scientific challenge is the scarcely imaginable temperature contrast between the aliens and the world of their interest. A differently tricky difficulty is that the rather unadventurous Ken has been talked into acting as an undercover investigator for his homeworld police. Naturally, the humans on the ground have their own motivations

Gehuld in eeuwige duisternis door zijn eigen dikke atmosfeer Tenebra was een vijandige planeet… een plaats van het verpletteren van de zwaartekracht, 370-graden temperaturen, een voortdurend verschuivende korst en gigantische drijvende regendruppels. Weinig belovend — maar er was leven, intelligent leven op Tenebra…

Una delle ultime invenzioni di Asimov è l’universo immaginario (ma non troppo) in cui si svolgono le avventure narrate in Le fasi del caos. Dopo aver passato una vita a raccontare le vicende di una galassia popolata soltanto da uomini e robot, Asimov immagina qui un intrigo che vede coinvolte, oltre a quella umana, altre cinque razze che conoscono il volo interstellare: razze spesso ostili e sospettose l’una dell’altra, fra cui l’uomo non fa certo brutta figura. Stabilite questo premesse, che presto daranno luogo a una serie di rapide quanto pericolose avventure, Asimov passa la mano ad alcuni brillanti scrittori; suoi allievi ideali, che svolgono la vicenda all’insegna della suspense, ma senza dimenticare una punta di ironia in omaggio al loro ispiratore

  Dans un univers d'infiniment petits, un microbe a commis un crime et pour échapper aux foudres de la justice se sauve vers la terre.     Un microbe détective se lance à la poursuite du criminel, mais comment le retrouver ? Les microbes ne peuvent pas vivre seuls sur la terre, ils doivent se glisser dans un corps humain pour y subsister comme des parasites.     Parmi les jeunes graçons courant sur cette île du Pacifique, qui donne asile sans le savoir au microbe assassin ?     Bâtie comme un roman policier, cette histoire extraordinaire ne s'oublie pas de sitôt. On pense longtemps après l'avoir lus au microbe se glissant derrière la rétine de Bob pour surveiller les alentours. On revoit la poursuite des deux microbes dans l'eau alors qu'ils viennent de quitter les corps respectifs qui les abritaient.     Quel comportement étrange de la part de Bob, qui parle sans s'en apercevoir, dont les blessures se cicatrisent seules et qui court dans le noir sans même trébucher. Heureusement, le microbe chasseur parvient à entrer en contact avec son « abri » et a finalement le dessus, mais de peu…

Chi non ricorda il pianeta Mesklin e i suoi straordinari abitanti, costretti a vivere in condizioni di gravità proibitive per gli esseri umani? Gli eroi meskliniti di Hal Clement tornano in questo romanzo, in sé pefettamente autonomo, che è di fatto il secondo capitolo della saga iniziata con Stella Doppia 61 Cygni (Mission of Gravity), tenuto a battesimo in Italia proprio sulle pagine di URANIA. Ancora una volta la pazienza, il coraggio e le straordinarie caratteristiche fisiche dei meskliniti permetteranno loro di avere ragione di un mondo in cui la forza di gravità è così schiacciante da rappresentare da sola il più terribile e immediato dei pericoli. Senza contare le numerose incognite di questa nuova e inedita missione nello spazio, scritta da un maestro della tecnologica…

El planeta Mesklin es grande y muy denso. La gravedad en su superficie varía enormemente desde 3 g en el ecuador hasta 700 g en los polos. Los océanos son de metano líquido y la nieve es amoniaco congelado. En estas condiciones de pesadilla viven los mesklinitas, quienes han desarrollado una cultura y una sociedad perfectamente acorde con las condiciones de su entorno. Barlemann, un osado marinero mesklinita, acepta emprender un viaje imposible para salvar una costosa sonda terrestre averiada en el polo del planeta. Para los mesklinitas el viaje constituye una maravillosa oportunidad de descubrir la ciencia y avanzar en el camino del conocimiento, fuerza motríz que les guía a través de numerosas aventuras

La planète Mesklin est réellement singulière. Sa forme et sa taille sont singulières, la gravité y est énorme et irrégulière. Elle tourne autour d'une étoile naine, à une vitesse considérable, le jour à sa surface ne dure que dix huit minutes. Et c'est sur cette planète que les hommes ont voulu faire atterrir une sonde très coûteuse, au pôle même où la gravité y est de neuf cents atmosphères. La sonde ne redécollera pas. La solution est donc de contacter le capitaine d'un équipage de la population locale et d'aller récupérer l'appareil là où l'homme ne peut décemment survivre …

Nel futuro, la Commissione per l'Energia controllerà rigidamente il mondo. Nelle profondità dell'oceano, però, qualcuno ha preso una strada diversa… e qualcosa di nuovo sta per accadere sulla Terra!

Well known as the author of MISSION OF GRAVITY, CYCLE OF FIRE, CLOSE TO CRITICAL and for his many other extraordinarily realistic creations of extraterrestrials, it is remarkable that Hal Clement's novelettes have never appeared in book form before. — Here are three of the best — each dealing with a different aspect of communication with creatures so alien to mankind that the first thing to do is throw speech out the window!

Two alien races lived under a single sun, someplace across the galaxy, sharing their world… sharing life itself. For they lived together in a partnership more perfect than any other known to the intelligences of the galaxy. Together, the two races became one, each deriving from the other that which made him greater than his individual self. Host and symbiote, they lived together, shared together… two bodies in one. For the one race was symbiotic, amorphous, able to enter the body of the other. Then one symbiote turned Criminal, and his race could not rest until he was tracked down. But the Criminal could hide in any living thing… and on Earth there were over two billion humans alone! HAL CLEMENT blends a masterpiece of science fiction with a story of pure detection to produce his best novel, and one of the most famous s-f novels of the past quarter-century

Hal Clement, the dean of hard science fiction, has written a new planetary adventure in the tradition of his classic Mission of Gravity. It is the kind of story that made his reputation as a meticulous designer of otherworldly settings that are utterly convincing because they are constructed from the ground up using established principles of orbital mechanics, geology, chemistry, biology, and other sciences. Kainui is one of a pair of double planets circling a pair of binary stars. Mike Hoani has come there to study the language of the colonists, to analyze its evolution in the years since settlement. But Kainui is an ocean planet. Although settled by Polynesians, it is anything but a tropical paradise. The ocean is 1,700 miles deep, with no solid ground anywhere. The population is scattered in cities on floating artificial islands with no fixed locations. The atmosphere isn’t breathable, and lightning, waterspouts, and tsunamis are constant. Out on the great planetary ocean, self-sufficiency is crucial, and far from any floating city, on a small working-family ship, anything can happen. There are, for instance, pirates. Mike’s academic research turns into an exotic nautical adventure unlike anything he could have imagined

The world’s energy was limited… and with overpopulation and a high level of technology, the Power Board had virtually become the real government of the world. Power was rationed, it was guarded, it was sacred. Thus when three of the Power Board’s agents disappeared at sea, and there was evidence that something irregular was happening to the energy quota in that area, it was cause for real alarm

Un detective alienígena sigue el rastro de un malvado asesino de su misma raza; durante su persecución, se estrella junto a una isla solitaria de la Tierra de 1949. Estos seres necesitan de otra raza para ocupar sus cuerpos, ya que no poseen uno propio. Nuestro “héroe” consigue encontrar un anfitrión: el cuerpo de un joven que vive en la isla

Per la famiglia Wind, i monti dell'Ovest americano sono un ambiente di vita ideale e una fonte di benessere, dopo che babbo Wind ha scoperto la sua miniera d'oro segreta. Per i Sarriani, abituati a respirare zolfo volatile, il Pianeta di Ghiaccio è uno dei tanti mondi inabitabili dell'universo. Perfino le loro navette automatiche inviate verso le pianure azzurre che formano gran parte del pianeta cessano subito le comunicazioni. Di parere diverso sono invece alcuni contrabbandieri che, dalla loro base su Mercurio, da quasi trent'anni ottengono dal Pianeta di Ghiaccio preziose quantità di una potentissima droga allucinogena in cambio di modeste quantità di metalli preziosi. Tutto potrebbe ancora filare per il meglio (secondo il metro di questa Cosa Nostra dello spazio) se un giorno le autorità di Sarr non infiltrassero un loro scienziato nella banda di spacciatori, e se finalmente le barriere di gelo che isolano due culture aliene non crollassero in qualche modo. Per la prima volta in Italia uno storico romanzo classico firmato dal maestro dell'esobiologia

Clement’s Mission of Gravity was the engaging tale of the adventures of Barlennan, a sea captain among his caterpillar-like people, on the high-gravity world of Mesklin. In Star Light Barlennan and his sailors go with humans to the even stranger world of Dhrawn, a “crusted star” of the type mentioned by Harlow Shapley. Dhrawn circles the feeble red star Lalande 21185, which actually exists (although the planet is fictionalized). Most of the book is the story of a huge landship crossing Dhrawn’s solid surface crewed by these nonhuman sailors, amidst bizarre dangers, and trying to keep Barlennan’s strange plan secret from humans. The characters, despite being mostly from Barlennan’s world, Mesklin, are well drawn and the setting is well realized. Readers bewildered by the melting and freezing of Dhrawn’s ammonia-water hydrosphere will do well to consult a phase diagram. Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1971

Nel 1942, l’astronomo americano K. A. Strand annunciava che la stella doppia 61, nella costellazione del Cigno, aveva un satellite di massa planetaria, gravitante intorno al suo sole (una delle componenti il sistema binario 61 Cygni) in poco meno di cinque anni. La massa di questo pianeta extrasolare era stata calcolata dallo Strand circa 16 volte superiore alla massa di Giove. Sebbene nei mesi successivi fossero fatte altre segnalazioni di corpi planetari gravitanti intorno ad altri Soli (per esempio il satellite della stella 70 Ophiuchi, con una massa 10 volte superiore alla massa di Giove, e il satellite di Proxima Centauri, la stella a noi più vicina, il quale non sarebbe che il doppio della massa di Giove!), pure la comunicazione dello Strand è una delle più sensazionali: per la prima volta la scienza poteva ufficialmente annunciare l’esistenza di pianeti al di là del sistema solare! E’ sul satellite planetario scoperto dallo Strand che Hal Clement, astronomo egli stesso e insegnante di matematica a Cambridge, si è ispirato per questo suo affascinante romanzo. Immaginate che cosa possa significare vivere su un immenso pianeta, la cui atmosfera è prevalentemente composta d’idrogeno, metano e ammoniaca; dove la forza di attrazione gravitazionale è circa tre volte all’equatore quella della Terra, ma per l’enorme schiacciamento dei poli sale a quasi 700 volte nelle regioni polari; dove dato il velocissimo moto di rotazione del pianeta il sole sorge e tramonta ogni venti minuti, mentre un altro sole, molto più lontano, illumina il cielo senza illuminarlo

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma ... Enigma 88, a tiny planet in the orbit of Arc, is a world with so little mass that it should have no atmosphere. But it does—and to find out why is the final study assignment that will earn five students, each the best of their species, their prestigious Respected Opinion degrees. But from the moment they arrive on Enigma, none of their careful calculations seem to fit; on the surface, the riddle seems insoluble. And when one of their wind robots disappears under the surface, closely followed by the Human, Molly, they find the mystery is indeed inside Enigma. For the vast subterranean network of caves and tunnels Molly tumbles into supports a rich profusion of life-life that can’t possibly exist

Die bereits aus Clements Roman Unternehmen Schwerkraft (Mission of Gravity — 1953) bekannten Meskliniten erforschen im Auftrag der Menschheit den Planeten Dhrawn, der sich durch seine vierzigfache Erdanziehung auszeichnet. Die sowohl für Menschen als auch Meskliniten lebensfeindlich Umwelt führt immer wieder zu Ausfällen der technischen Ausrüstung. Hinzu kommt ein gesundes Misstrauen des Forschungsteam gegenüber den Menschen, das zur Folge hat, dass die Raupenähnlichen Wesen unbemerkt einen eigenen Forschungsauftrag durchführen. Wie im Vorgängerroman dient die Physik des Extremen dazu, die mentalen Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede von Menschen und Meskliniten auszuloten. Dabei dürfte es Clements naturwissenschaftlichem Studium zu verdanken sein, dass die Naturgesetze nicht über den Haufen geschmissen werden, sondern gerade die Spannung des Buches ausmachen. Naturgemäß sind Fortsetzungen selten so gut wie das Original. Das trifft auch hier zu, aber lesenswert ist dieser zweite Band allemal

The Nitrogen Fix is a 1980 science fiction novel by Hal Clement. The plot revolves around a nomadic family in a future where all oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere has combined with nitrogen, so the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen with traces of water, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide, and the seas are very dilute nitric acid. The family is allied with an alien, an octopus-like being who can survive in the new atmosphere. Humans must live in shelters with oxygen-generating plants, or use suitable breathing equipment. Some of Earth's original life forms have mutated to survive in the changed atmosphere. Since almost no metals can exist in the corrosive atmosphere, any technology is based on ceramics or glass. Some humans are suspicious of the aliens, and even blame them for the change to the atmosphere, since they seem to be adapted for it. The family have an almost fatal encounter with a group of such people, who are holding another alien hostage. However, the two aliens are able to pool memories biochemically, so that they become the same personality in two bodies. Their combined knowledge and skills help the humans to escape. At the end the aliens reveal that they are basically tourists or scientists, and they travel from one system to another over thousands of years. Atmospheres "mature" when the nitrogen absorbs all the oxygen, the cause being the inevitable evolution of bacteria that use gold to catalyze the reaction. It is hinted, but not stated outright, that human mining of gold triggered this reaction

Druhým tématem Clementa velmi zajímajícím je téma inteligentního života, který Clement umísťuje do nejrůznějšího exotického a nehostinného prostředí. To je příklad jeho v češtině jediného vyšlého románu „Těžká expedice“, který se odehrává na planetě Mesklin, která je 4.800 krát větší než Země a otočí se kolem své osy jednou za 18 minut — to ve svých důsledcích znamená, že zatímco na rovníku jsou pouhá 3 g, na pólech je 700 g

Mūsdienu zinātnei pilnīgi nekas nav zināms par to, vai Sietiņa zvaigznei Alkionei ir planētu sistēma. Klements pieņem, ka ir. Taču Alkione ir dubultzvaigzne, un zinātniekiem ir skaidrs, ka planētu orbītas ap dubultzvaigznēm nevar būt stabilas un dzīvība uz tām nav iespējama. Tomēr Klements uz šādas planētas nometina saprātīgas dzīvās būtnes un «Uguns ciklā» izvirza pilnīgi neticamu, tomēr konsekventu un, ņemot vērā mūsu pašreizējo zināšanu līmeni, neapgāžamu hipotēzi, kura izskaidro gan pašu planētu eksistenci Alkiones sistēmā, gan dzīvības esību uz vienas no šīm planētām. Vārdu sakot, Klements pats rada pilnīgi fantastisku pasauli, tomēr izskaidro to no stingri zinātniskām pozīcijām. Vide, kurā notiek viņa romānu darbība, ir autora izdomāta un popularizē zināšanas nevis tieši, bet ar viņa paša izveidotās aizraujošās hipotēzēs starpniecību

Der gigantische Planet Mesklin wirkte auf Menschen wie ein tödlicher Alptraum. Seine Meere bestanden aus flüssigem Methan, der Schnee auf dem Festland war gefrorenes Ammoniak, und die Schwerkraft erreichte einen bis zu siebenhundertmal höheren Wert als auf der Erde. Kein Mensch wäre imstande gewesen, sich auf dem Riesenplaneten zu bewegen. Aber auf Mesklin war eine Forschungsrakete mit unendlich wichtigen Meßwerten niedergegangen. Irgend jemand mußte zu ihr vordringen. Dieser Jemand war der Mesklinit Barlennan — Händler und Forscher zugleich, vierzig Zentimeter lang, mit sechsunddreißig Beinen und Hunderte von Pfund schwer. Und der gerissenste Geschäftemacher, dem Menschen jemals begegnet waren

In den Tiefen der Meere entbrennt ein erbitterter Kampf um die Zukunft der Menschheit. Die Männer des Power Board jagen den Unbekannten, der die Energievorräte der Erde plündert