137:, and are exploring, in a scout car, the surface of Venus. Above are permanent unbroken clouds. They are on the Hesperian Plateau, hoping to reach the South Pole. Thirty miles from the pole, their progress is stopped by an escarpment. They see a dried-up waterfall on the cliff ahead, evidence of lakes above: they realize that here, on a plateau near the pole, the temperature is low enough for rain, although it will be boiling. Garfield reminds the others that "wherever life has the slightest chance of surviving, you'll find it. This is the only chance it's ever had on Venus."
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approaching them, but retreats when they move forward, a reaction to the heat expelled from the thermosuits' refrigeration units. Hutchins takes samples and photographs of the moving carpet, and speculates on its nature. They erect a pressurized tent and relax; "the true wonder and importance of the discovery forced itself upon their minds".
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Garfield and
Hutchins leave the car and, wearing their thermosuits, climb the escarpment. They follow a dry river bed and reach a lake, the first free water found on Venus. What seems to be a horizontal patch of black rock at the edge of the lake is moving. The plant, or colony of plants, seems to be
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There is a short final section, like an epilogue, with a detached viewpoint: After
Garfield and Hutchins have left, the organism reaches the abandoned encampment and absorbs the organic material from the human waste, cigarette ends and paper cups; bacteria and viruses begin to kill it. "Beneath the
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were working on the story for the film, and it was at first envisaged that the discovery of an extraterrestrial object would be the climax. "Before Eden" was one of several of Clarke's short stories sold to
Kubrick, to provide background material for the exploration of the Solar System before its
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discovery. It was later decided that the extraterrestrial object would be found early in the story, and the short stories were discarded; the following year, Clarke bought them back from
Kubrick.
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Jerry
Garfield, engineer-navigator, Graham Hutchins, a biologist, and George Coleman, a scientist, have travelled to Venus on the spaceship
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was based entirely on observations from Earth, describes what the environment on the planet's surface could be like. A consequence of
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The story has been translated into multiple languages that include German, Italian, French, Russian, Dutch, Serbian and
Croatian.
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The
Starlit corridor. Modern science fiction short stories and poems ... Compiled by Roger Manfield
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Space
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Voices for the Future: Essays on Major
Science Fiction Writers
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145:clouds of Venus, the story of Creation was ended."
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290:. Simon & Schuster. p. 53.
313:The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey
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16:Short story by Arthur C. Clarke
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98:short story by the British author
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539:Short stories by Arthur C. Clarke
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395:. Signet / New American Library.
196:Yet More Penguin Science Fiction
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215:In 2015 the story was read on
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149:Relationship with other works
257:Clareson, Thomas D. (1976).
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391:Clarke, Arthur C. (1979).
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159:. During 1964, Clarke and
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366:Aldiss, Brian W (1964).
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111:Tales of Ten Worlds
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330:. Harcourt Brace.
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