In the depths of the sea

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In the Depths of the Sea is a science fiction novel written by Arthur C. Clarke . The English original edition appeared in 1957 under the title The Deep Range , the German translation ( ISBN 3-442-23011-X ) in 1962.

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The novel describes part of the life of the fictional character Walter Franklin. It is set in a future in which humans have created a world state and at least in the second generation maintain a permanent colony on Mars. Franklin is married with two children on Mars, and is the chief engineer of a Mars Line spaceship. During a line trip, difficulties arise on the spaceship, which Franklin tries to remedy with an outside mission. His spacesuit has a malfunction in which the suit drive cannot be switched off and the radio link fails. With this, Franklin moves away from the spaceship and is completely alone for four hours, without any contact in space. He collapses, and it takes almost a year for him to be restored to Earth by psychiatrists. But he will never be able to travel through space again. Since his wife and two children will never set foot on earth because of the gravity that is too high for them, his family has irrevocably broken. It is no longer possible to meet in person.

The decision is made to train him as a whale boy . Humans have opened up the world's oceans to such an extent that they keep whales as 'pets' and breed plankton in the ocean. The whale herds are guarded by fences (electric and sound) and by manned submarines. He goes through a shortened training and shortly before the end of it there is another crisis. Franklin fell in love with Indra Langenberg, who looks very similar to his previous wife. On the first two-way venture, he collapses at the sight of a space station and the smell of fuel that reminds him of space. In this crisis he tries suicide but is saved.

He started working as a whale inspector after his training, married Indra and also had two children with her: Peter and Anne. In addition to the routine service, he experiences some special events. The first adventure is to discover and capture a giant polyp. The animal kills whales, which is why there are plans to catch it alive, examine it and sell it to the “Meeresschau”. The company succeeds with some difficulties. The second is to find a sea snake. His former trainer and now best friend died in a seaquake in which his submarine was buried.

After 15 years, Franklin is promoted from active service at sea to executive position as director of the whale office. At the same time, intensive colonization and use of the oceans begins on Venus. During his first inspection of the Whale Office's laboratories, he is shown how a whale cow is milked. A detailed report about his work appears in a magazine. This is based on a "Mahanayake Thero", the Buddhist leader, to call for the slaughter of the whales to be stopped. At the time, Buddhism was the only real religion in the state that still had power. This top leader advocates the idea:

In a century or so, we will literally go beyond the solar system. Sooner or later we will meet representatives of a much higher intelligent life, in a completely different shape. And when that time comes, the treatment man receives from these superior creatures may very well depend on how he has behaved towards the other creatures in his own world.

Franklin later shares this view. In another, extraordinary mission, he frees a buried submarine with several passengers and saves their lives. He became a celebrity and the idea of ​​Thero, which he supported, began its triumphant advance.

In the final scene, his children Peter and Anne travel to Mars in a spaceship to begin their work and meet Franklin's first family.

environment

The book was published in 1957. It is the first book in which he deals with the oceans. This is due to Clarke's new interest in underwater explorations, which he developed from 1950 onwards. At this time he learned to dive, visited Sri Lanka and wrote articles on the Indian Ocean . He filmed the Great Barrier Reef with his friend Mike Wilson .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arthur C. Clarke: In the Depths of the Sea . Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1962, ISBN 3-442-23011-X .
  2. ↑ Arthur C. Clarke . In: NNDB . Retrieved March 28, 2008.