بقايا نوع ذكي

by Fritz Leiber, عصام منصور (Translator)

في زمنٍ بعيد، وفي مكان لا يشبه أي مكان، يلتقي مُستكشِف عائد من رحلة بين النجوم، وقد خاب أمله بعد فشله في العثور على حياة ذكية في الفضاء، بعالِم آثار يحمل خبرًا سيقلب نظرتهما معًا إلى الماضي والمستقبل؛ اكتشاف أثري غامض سيغير فهمهما للعالَم حول مصير الحضارات وطبيعة الذكاء نفسه؛ بقايا حضارة مجهولة تكشف عن جنسٍ ذكي عاش على الأرض منذ زمن سحيق. مَن كانوا؟ وكيف عاشوا؟ ولماذا اختفوا؟ تأتي النهاية المُفاجِئة لتُغيِّر معنى الاكتشاف كله، وتترك القارئ في صدمة لن ينساها!

القصة تمزج بين الخيال العلمي الفلسفي والسخرية السوداء، تستفز القارئ ليفكر في مستقبل البشرية، وفي هشاشة كل ما نعُده تقدمًا. إنها قراءة قصيرة لكن كثيفة الأفكار، تحمل توقيع «لايبر» المعتاد: ذكاء حاد ولغة موحية وعمق يتجاوز حجمه بكثير.

تستكشف القصة موضوعات الذكاء والانقراض وطبيعة الحضارة، وتعيد طرح السؤال القديم: «ماذا نعرف حقًّا عن الحضارات التي سبقتنا؟ وكيف يمكن لاكتشاف أن يعيد تشكيل معنى الوجود كله؟».

تنتهي القصة بنبرة مؤثرة، مُؤكِّدة المصير المشترك للكائنات الذكية والبقايا التي تتركها وراءها.

قصة تنبض بالتساؤل وتُخفِي أكثر مما تُظهِر، تفتح نافذة على تاريخ لم يُكتب بعد بالكامل.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

ebook

First published October 1, 1950

About the author

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was one of the more interesting of the young writers who came into HP Lovecraft's orbit, and some of his best early short fiction is horror rather than sf or fantasy. He found his mature voice early in the first of the sword-and-sorcery adventures featuring the large sensitive barbarian Fafhrd and the small street-smart-ish Gray Mouser; he returned to this series at various points in his career, using it sometimes for farce and sometimes for gloomy mood pieces--The Swords of Lankhmar is perhaps the best single volume of their adventures. Leiber's science fiction includes the planet-smashing The Wanderer in which a large cast mostly survive flood, fire, and the sexual attentions of feline aliens, and the satirical A Spectre is Haunting Texas in which a gangling, exo-skeleton-clad actor from the Moon leads a revolution and finds his true love. Leiber's late short fiction, and the fine horror novel Our Lady of Darkness, combine autobiographical issues like his struggle with depression and alcoholism with meditations on the emotional content of the fantastic genres. Leiber's capacity for endless self-reinvention and productive self-examination kept him, until his death, one of the most modern of his sf generation.

Used These Alternate Names: Maurice Breçon, Fric Lajber, Fritz Leiber, Jr., Fritz R. Leiber, Fritz Leiber Jun., Фриц Лейбер, F. Lieber, フリッツ・ライバー

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neat twist

It's a Fritz Leiber short story. It's 1950 sci-fi. Of course there is a twist. Being familiar with both, I was sure that I had it. I didn't. Leiber blindsided me. Again. Well worth your time and your 99¢.

[MB Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddball SF story with one more twist than I expected.

[Kiara Selena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rat!?

[ALLA BASIM · Rating 3 out of 5]

نهاية مزدوجة الصدمة ..

[Peter Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Later than you think by Fritz Leiber

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[Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote.]


This is a short, short story from the 1950s. It has all the tropes and charm of such stories. It is easily readable in ten minutes and is built around a reveal at the end that may or may not deliver a punch for any particular reader.

I enjoyed the story in a nostalgic way since it was core science fiction, lacked the pomo/critical race/gender sensibilities of the current style, and is a story by a great writer. Frankly, I also liked the gut punch of "deep time" being illustrated in the story and the reversal of our parochial human expectation that we are the latest and last thing.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unexpected nice little story

[Kyle Dougherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The double-twist at the end didn't impress me very much, I honestly would have preferred if the archaeologist had said human instead of rat.

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, but sweet; except for: "Evolutionary categories". It's taxonomic categories. I was thinking 🦇, not 🐀.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 4 out of 5]

🖍️ Fun short science fiction story from the Golden Age of Science Fiction!

📕 Published in Galaxy Science Fiction, Vol. 1, No. 1, October 1950.

જ⁀➴🟢The e-book version can be found on the Project Gutenberg website.
🟣 Kindle.
✴︎🚀✴︎💫✴︎🚀✴︎

[Phil Giunta · Rating 3 out of 5]

A space explorer returns from a disappointing expedition to find intelligent life in the galaxy. However, he learns that his archaeologist friend uncovered evidence of an advanced civilization on their homeworld while he was away. The explorer visits the archaeologist and a philosophical discussion ensues about the inevitable decline of all civilizations. The identity of the long dead civilization is revealed after a few twists.

[Shi-Hsia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever and engaging short science fiction. An explorer returns to the sea, having discovered that there was a terrestrial air-breathing civilization that once used to occupy the land....

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, and to say much about it would be to spoil it.

From 19 Nocturne Boulevard podcast.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this as part of The 11th Science Fiction Megapack. It was very interesting with will developed characters lots of action and misdirection leading to the conclustion. 2023

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

scifi, short story, by a master

[عصام · Rating 5 out of 5]

تجدونها على تطبيق أبجد.

[Jon Ruben · Rating 5 out of 5]

60 years and still sends shivers

after 60 years and multiple readings, this tiny story strikes me still as brilliant. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone whether or not they usually read SciFi

[Ida Aasebøstøl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5.