When the earth screamed
When the Earth Screamed (Originally: When the World Screamed ) is a short story published in 1928 by the British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . At the center of the story is an expedition into the interior of the earth, which turns out to be a gigantic organism.
This episode of the Challenger Stories is one of the earlier science fiction novels in English, but at the same time takes up elements of the adventure novel .
Action at a glance
The story is told from the perspective of Mr. Peerless Jones, who is conferring with Edward Malone, Professor Challenger's assistant:
Professor Challenger purchases seemingly worthless land in Hengist Down, Sussex , England , where he is building a settlement for well-paid and silenced miners; ostensibly to look for oil, which should also explain the strict safety precautions.
When Jones later met Professor Challenger, the latter presented him with the hypothesis that the earth itself was a gigantic, living organism. He explains the shape of the earth as a geoid with its resemblance to a sea urchin ; the world being should feed itself on the ether .
Since the professor regards humans as "infinitely small insects" in relation to world beings, he assumes that the world is not aware of their existence.
With the intention of changing this, Challenger is by no means searching for oil, but drilling eight miles deep into the earth's crust in order to make the world aware of humanity.
In response to the drilling, which was carried out in front of the public, a gelatinous fluid was ejected from the hole and volcanoes erupted all over the world, proving Challenger's hypothesis to be correct.
A new era has begun while Professor Challenger is being sued by the State of Italy for the Etna eruption he caused .