In his classic 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey , Arthur C. Clarke builds the centerpiece of his narrative around the discovery of magnetic aberration centered on the moon crater Tycho. Further investigation uncovers a large black slab hidden beneath the lunar surface—a puzzling artifact not made by humans. The mystery of this monolith links the different elements of Clarke’s plot, which span some three million years of history, and more than 300 million miles.
Yet seven years before Clarke’s novel, Clifford Simak wrote his taut adventure story The Trouble with Tycho which also presents a mysterious alien relic on the moon—and one centered in the exact same crater later chosen by Clarke. What are the odds that two different authors would select the same plot of lunar real estate—only fifty miles in diameter—as the epicenter of activity for extraterrestrial intelligent life?
Simak’s novel is more compact than Clarke’s, and more limited by pulp fiction conventions. Simak blends in a love story—never Mr. Clarke’s strong suit, thank you very much—and a hero who (in time-honored sci-fi fashion) takes on the worst that the universe can throw at him. In this case, the protagonist is Chris Jackson, who is working over the deserted lunar landscape the way prospectors took on California in the wake of the Gold Rush.
Funded by a syndicate back on earth—really just the banker, barber, and assorted retailers from his home town—Jackson is hoping for the big strike in uranium or diamonds that will make him some serious money and please his backers. But the “eureka moment” eludes our ambitious treasure hunter. His prospecting trips have yielded little— mostly a few strange moon lichens which contain microbes that can be used for medical treatment. These strange quasi-life forms seem to be concentrated in the area around Tycho.
But none of the moon prospectors are willing to visit this ominous crater. Thirty years before our story begins, the Third Lunar Expedition landed in Tycho, only to vanish—two ships and eleven astronauts gone without a trace. Further attempts to survey the area led to further disappearances. Nowadays lunar residents give the area wide clearance.
Jackson runs into Amelia Thompson, another prospector who is an illegal immigrant on the moon—yes, they probably need a big fence up there too—who thinks she can find her way to the remnants of the missing Tycho expedition parties. If Jackson will accompany her, they could be on top of the story of the century, and pick up some valuable odds and ends along the way. Fame, money, adventure, maybe romance too—what self-respecting moon prospector can turn that down?
Simak works all the angles on his story, which makes up for lackluster writing with its pacing and endearing details. A master of sci-fi pets— Simak’s City is the Lassie of speculative fiction—our author hypothesizes a type of free-floating lunar energy which resembles a hound dog, at least in its loyalty to humans and skill in hunting (lichens in this instance). He also takes time to add commentaries on the best places to construct a building on the moon, or the best of way of exiting from your lunar rig (“like a worm wriggling from an apple”). Simak’s imaginative immersion into his story and setting are often best demonstrated in the asides and throwaway passages.
Other sly details add to the texture of the book. On the moon, you never need to send your spacesuit out to the cleaners, no matter how stinky and sweaty it has become; just leave it on your doorstep, exposed to the atmosphere-free outdoors, and the next day it is clean as a whistle. And did you know that the booze on the moon is always the best?—given how ridiculously expensive freight costs are, no one saves money to buy a lesser brand.
Simak has put enough thought into these particulars to flesh out an otherwise thin story. Our hero and his lady friend, needless to say, decide to journey into the depths of Tycho to find out the source of all the trouble—and create some of their own. They don’t run into a big black slab. But leave the monoliths to Arthur Clarke. Simak likes extraterrestrial intelligent life forms that bring better special effects along with them on their journeys. Probably more than few readers will as well.