ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: SIX THOUSAND YEARS HENCE (1891)

SIX THOUSAND YEARS HENCE (1891) – Written by Milton W. Ramsey. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog may remember that I’m usually enthusiastic about these works of “ancient” science fiction and look for any bright spots. In this novel’s case that is very, very difficult. For a book written in 1891 it seems more like an 1820s piece.

The central character is General Morton, a former military man who has become incredibly wealthy through a land deal. One night he starts tracking an odd dot in space with his telescope. The object turns out to be a wandering planet that is headed for the Earth.

In the event, the planet throws Earth’s moon out of orbit and into the sun. It does not collide with our planet but it comes close enough to capture General Morton’s city in its gravity and drags the metropolis out into space with it. And you ain’t seen nothin’ yet in terms of this book’s WTF attempts at “science.”

As the rogue planet drags the city behind it, the individual buildings in it form a long “tail”. The people inside those buildings stay alive by keeping the doors and windows shut so that they have air to breathe inside.

What the narration calls “the nebula city” of individual buildings (more like an absurd wagon train) is being dragged toward the sun. As the space-faring city passes by Venus, Morton observes that the inhabitants are humanoid but dress very oddly by Earth standards.

Next, the “nebula city” knocks Mercury out of its orbit, causing it to plunge into the sun. The city follows it into the sun but everyone survives because it turns out the sun’s surface is a layer of survivable heat and inside the sun is a large planet many, many times the size of Earth but with Earth-like gravity.   

The outer space “wagon train” of buildings land gently on the Sun Planet, which has plenty of water and vast forests. We are told that the landing happened “just in time” because the buildings have almost exhausted their air supply.

The inhabitants of the Sun Planet – called Sunites – welcome the Earthlings. The Sunites are more scientifically advanced than the Earthlings except in the way of weapons.

The inhabitants of the solar world have huge, cigar-shaped lighter-than-air vessels that are driven by propellers. Morton and the others learn that the environment on the Sun Planet lets everyone live for thousands of years.

The General recruits two of his fellow Earthlings – Professor Hix and Mr. Fields (first names are none of our damn business in this thing) – to join him in an expedition to explore the Sun Planet. The explorers come across Earth’s moon where it crashed on the solar world’s surface.

After striking gold on the moon, Morton and his two colleagues find the remains of an ancient civilization on the moon and the skeletons of the inhabitants reveal that they were humanoid (of course) but much shorter than Earth people and with horns on their heads. 

Beyond the site where Mercury crash-landed the explorers discover that all the oceans of Mercury (?) have run off the planet and are causing localized flooding on the Sun Planet.

Beyond the Mercury Flood Zone, the General and company meet aliens from Jupiter and its moons who have traveled to the Sun Planet and are staying to enjoy the long, long lifespans. Saturnian space travelers are also there, but are so intellectually sophisticated that they are far beyond the comprehension of the Earthlings.

The next visitors to the solar world encountered by Morton, Hix and Fields are ancient survivors of two planets which collided and splintered apart, forming the Asteroid Belt. Those survivors were somehow thrown into the sun and all the water from the collided planets hit the Earth, causing the flood of Noah.

After leaving behind those survivors, the General and friends encounter Sunites who are technologically backward, unlike their fellows elsewhere on the solar world. These Sunites are savage and warlike.

Fields falls in love with a Sunite Princess among the warring tribes, so he, Morton and Hix use their Winchester rifles to turn the tide and make the princess’s people the dominant power. Fields marries his lady love. 

Now, things get turned up a few notches. As the General and Hix journey on, they learn that God is still continuing creation on the Sun Planet, with Adams and Eves still being formed.

Eventually, the explorers completely circumnavigate the Sun Planet and settle in back at the original site where the Space Wagon Train of buildings landed. The day arrives when some other celestial body passes by the solar world so closely that the Earthlings and their buildings are AGAIN dragged off into space.

By an incredible coincidence, the buildings all wind up passing the Earth. Morton and company all reach the Earth in a Sunite spaceship they brought with them. But we’re far from finished.

It turns out it is now the year 7092 A.D., so Morton and company have been gone for several thousand years. Earth is now incredbly advanced scientifically but is ruled by dictatorships in scattered megalopolises.

Luckily, the gold that the General mined on the crashed moon on the Sun Planet makes him and his fellows rich enough to be admitted into the new civilization, since if they had no valuables they’d have been barred.

Each megalopolis has skyscrapers that go a hundred stories high and are connected by walkways. People drive electric cars and there are trains that can go around the world in just three days.   

An aluminum bridge (I’m not joking) spans the Atlantic Ocean to help accommodate such train travel. All the returnees to Earth join the General in taking in the entirety of 71st Century Earth.

The U.S. has constructed an artificial island in the Pacific Ocean. Alcoholic drinks cannot be sold without accompanying anti-alcohol drugs. There are phonographic translators available for world travelers.

All of South America has become part of the United States. The Gobi and Sahara deserts have been made fertile and are now green.

Eventually, the oppressive nature of future Earth closes in on our returnees. Red tape and bureaucracy suffocate all freedoms except for the ruling oligarchs. Churches cannot be entered without tickets.   

Morton and the others are kept under constant surveillance and learn their spaceship was confiscated. Under the General’s leadership, the returnees band together and retake their ship. Morton flies them all to an island located at the Pole.

The island has still not been discovered by outsiders so it is still a free nation. Most of the inhabitants are descendants of lost polar explorers and they welcome the returnees.

A nearby volcano keeps the area warm enough for comfortable living. As the others settle into their new homeland, Morton grows to regret returning to Earth. The Wagon Train of Buildings in space has become occupied by aliens from various planets and they prohibit Earthlings, so the General cannot even go there.

Losing the will to live, Morton passes away.

“What a long, strange trip” this novel proved to be. If you want to read it, by all means do so. I wasn’t able to squeeze in everything from the novel. 

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