Status Updates From Out of the Silent Planet (S...

As he cuts, chips of stone fly off. The crude picture shows their spaceship and three humans, all based on Ransom’s portrait. They aim for idealization, not realism. He asks how all three creatures have the same speech. They actually have their own language but choose to speak the language of the hrossa, not because they rule but because they are poets and singers. It does not understand his Earth-bound speaking.

He looks down at the sound of tapping and a pfifltrigg makes a stylized picture of him. Later generations will only believe it if it is stylized. Pfifltriggi are the most alien of the three. It looks like an Arthur Rackham dwarf. Oyarsa has ordered the pfifltrigg to make a portrait of Ransom who laughs at the thought of posing. The creatures carries around tools suited to its work. Its body is made for mining.

He studies the stylized drawings of sorns, hrossa, and pfiffltriggi. There’s a curious wavy, flamelike figure with wings. Birds from early times are shown. The Oyarsa is directing the creatures to make furrows. Each of the three hnau had a different role in the process of making channels. He studies a diagram for some time before realizing it’s a diagram of the solar system. The Oyarsa is cut out of Earth’s picture.

He watches ten sorns wade up to their waists. A lot of visitors are arriving so this eases the burden on the hrossa. He feels like a new boy at school and does not mix with the crowd. He eats some groundweed and decides to walk some more as it cools down. The sorns wander around the coastlines so he decides to move further up and in. He finds a grove near an avenue of monoliths with curious carvings.

He is uncomfortable walking up the hill, so Ransom sticks to the perimeter and makes a loop. The grounded is cushiony and soft. He senses the silvery voices of the eldila. The groundweed rustles because of the eldila. He feels like the island watches him, and he is eembarrassed. He is hungry and tired. He is tempted to take a nap outdoors. He watches passengers come onto the island.

Then Augray tells him to give the watch to a pfiffltriggi. He leaves and Ransom embarks the boat. The hrossa’s role at Meldilorn is to ferry boats. The island is full of eldila and even Ransom can sense something. By Malacandran standards, it’s warm (September earth day). He walks up the hill of the island. He’s a little on edge because he’s seeing eldila, but not exactly seeing them.

A gong and mallet! Augray strikes the gong which floods Ransom with excitement. He studies metal etchings that remind him of prehistoric drawings and Norse or Celtic jewelry. It seems to tell a story. A hross paddles a boat to them and Augray introduces Ransom from Thulcandra. The hross is not surprised. As Oyarsa has not called for Augray, Ransom offers him his watch. Augray wonders humans can’t use nature’s clock.