The Last Command (short story)

Last updated

"The Last Command" is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1965. [1] It describes events on a distant space station after a devastating nuclear war. [2]

Plot summary

The story consists of a taped message from the leader of the country that launched a space station into a highly elliptical orbit around Earth. The station is equipped with ICBMs capable of reaching targets anywhere on Earth, to deter war through mutually assured destruction. As the story progresses, we hear the leader's instructions, interspersed with the reactions of the crew of the space station, who are identified only by their titles (e.g., "the First Radar Officer"). The reader learns that the message is one of many taped messages for various situations, that nuclear war has occurred on Earth, and that the country that controls this space station has been defeated and almost totally destroyed. The crew are prepared to destroy the enemy country, but their leader orders them not to do so, saying that, as half of mankind has been destroyed, to destroy the other half solely for vengeance would be "insanity, unworthy of reasoning men". In the last sentence of the story, we learn that this space station is controlled by the Soviet Union, and that the enemy was the United States. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>2010: Odyssey Two</i> 1982 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke

2010: Odyssey Two is a 1982 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It is the sequel to his 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, though Clarke changed some elements of the story to align with the film version of 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction</span> Genre of fiction

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction in which the Earth's civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronomical, such as an impact event; destructive, such as nuclear holocaust or resource depletion; medical, such as a pandemic, whether natural or human-caused; end time, such as the Last Judgment, Second Coming or Ragnarök; or any other scenario in which the outcome is apocalyptic, such as a zombie apocalypse, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics or alien invasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alien invasion</span> Common theme in science fiction stories and film

Alien invasion or space invasion is a common feature in science fiction stories and film, in which extraterrestrial lifeforms invade the Earth to exterminate and supplant human life, enslave it, harvest people for food, steal the planet's resources, or destroy the planet altogether. It can be considered as a science-fiction subgenre of the invasion literature, expanded by H. G. Wells's seminal alien invasion novel The War of the Worlds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weapons in science fiction</span> Use of fictitious futuristic weapons in the SciFi genre

Strange and exotic weapons are a recurring feature in science fiction. In some cases, weapons first introduced in science fiction have been made a reality; other science-fiction weapons remain purely fictional, and are often beyond the realms of known physical possibility.

The concept of self-replicating spacecraft, as envisioned by mathematician John von Neumann, has been described by futurists including physicist Michio Kaku and has been discussed across a wide breadth of hard science fiction novels and stories. Self-replicating probes are sometimes referred to as von Neumann probes. Self-replicating spacecraft would in some ways either mimic or echo the features of living organisms or viruses.

<i>The Songs of Distant Earth</i> 1986 English-language utopian novel by Arthur C. Clarke

The Songs of Distant Earth is a 1986 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, based upon his 1958 short story of the same title. He stated that it was his favourite of all his novels. Clarke also wrote a short step outline with the same title, published in Omni magazine and anthologized in The Sentinel in 1983.

<i>Earthlight</i> 1955 novel by Arthur C. Clarke

Earthlight is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, published in 1955. It is an expansion to novel length of a novella of the same name that he had published four years earlier.

<i>The Wind from the Sun</i>

The Wind from the Sun (ISBN 0-15-196810-1) is a 1972 collection of science fiction short stories by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. Some of the stories originally appeared in a number of different publications. A part of the book was included in CD on board the Planetary Society's solar sail, Cosmos 1.

<i>Against the Fall of Night</i> 1948 novel by Arthur C. Clarke

Against the Fall of Night is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. Originally appearing as a novella in the November 1948 issue of the magazine Startling Stories, it was revised and expanded in 1951 and published in book form in 1953 by Gnome Press. It was later expanded and revised again and published in 1956 as The City and the Stars. A later edition includes another of Clarke's early works and is titled The Lion of Comarre and Against the Fall of Night. In 1990, with Clarke's approval, Gregory Benford wrote a sequel titled Beyond the Fall of Night, which continues the story arc of the 1953 novel. It is generally printed with the original novel as a single volume.

<i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> (novel) 1968 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick's film version and published after the release of the film. Clarke and Kubrick worked on the book together, but eventually only Clarke ended up as the official author. The story is based in part on various short stories by Clarke, including "The Sentinel". By 1992, the novel had sold three million copies worldwide. An elaboration of Clarke and Kubrick's collaborative work on this project was made in the 1972 book The Lost Worlds of 2001.

<i>The Hammer of God</i> (Clarke novel) 1993 novel by Arthur C. Clarke

The Hammer of God is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke originally published in 1993. Set in the year 2109, it deals with the discovery of an asteroid to be on course to collide with Earth and depicts the mission for deflecting the asteroid by using fusion thermal rockets.

This is a list of occurrences of space elevators in fiction. Some depictions were made before the space elevator concept became fully established.

<i>Eon</i> (novel) 1985 science fiction novel by Greg Bear

Eon is a science fiction novel by American author Greg Bear published by Bluejay Books in 1985. Eon was nominated for an Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. It is the first novel in The Way series; followed by Eternity.

The Alliance–Union universe is a fictional universe created by American writer C. J. Cherryh. It is the setting for a future history series extending from the 21st century into the far future.

<i>Islands in the Sky</i> 1952 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke

Islands in the Sky is a 1952 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It is one of his earliest works. Clarke wrote the story as a travelogue of human settlement of cislunar space in the last half of the twenty-first century.

<i>The Last Theorem</i> 2008 novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl

The Last Theorem is a 2008 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl. It was first published in the United Kingdom by HarperVoyager in July 2008, and in the United States by Del Rey Books in August 2008. The book is about a young Sri Lankan mathematician who finds a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, while an alien invasion of Earth is in progress.

<i>The Sky People</i> 2006 novel by S. M. Stirling

The Sky People is an alternate history science fiction novel by American writer S. M. Stirling. It was first published by Tor Books in hardcover in November 2006, with a book club edition co-published with the Science Fiction Book Club following in December of the same year. Tor issued paperback, ebook, and trade paperback editions in October 2007, April 2010, and May 2010 respectively. Audiobook editions were published by Tantor Media in January 2007.

<i>Discovery One</i> Fictional spacecraft

The United States Spacecraft Discovery One is a fictional spaceship featured in the first two novels of the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke and in the films 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) directed by Stanley Kubrick and 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) directed by Peter Hyams. The ship is a nuclear-powered interplanetary spaceship, crewed by two men and controlled by the AI on-board computer HAL 9000. The ship is destroyed in the second novel and makes no further appearances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur C. Clarke</span> British science fiction writer (1917–2008)

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.

References

  1. Page at Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  2. 1 2 Clarke, Arthur (2004). The Collected Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke.