The Dying Night
Encyclopedia
The Dying Night is a science fiction
short story
by Isaac Asimov
. The story first appeared in the July 1956 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, and was reprinted in the collections Nine Tomorrows
(1959), Asimov's Mysteries
(1968), and The Best of Isaac Asimov
(1973). "The Dying Night" is Asimov's third Wendell Urth story.
, Mercury
and the asteroid
Ceres, meet for the first time in ten years at a convention on Earth
. They also meet a former colleague of theirs, Romero Villiers, who had to stay on Earth because of illness. Villiers claims to have invented a mass-transference/teleportation
device, but dies under suspicious circumstances before he can demonstrate the device to his friends.
Another scientist who has seen the device demonstrated suspects that Villiers has been murdered by one of his classmates, and he questions them. In the course of his investigation, a photographic record of a research paper by Villiers describing his theory is discovered on a windowsill of the room, but is found to have been ruined through exposure to sunlight.
When none of the suspects admits any guilt, Wendell Urth, an eccentric scientist who has had success in investigating crimes, is brought in. He identifies the guilty astronomer as the one who has been on Mercury. The key lies in the idea (at the time of writing believed to be true) that Mercury has one face always pointing away from the Sun. The guilty party had hidden the film in what he thought was a safe place because he subconsciously expected the night to last forever.
Since the story was written, it has been discovered that the tidal locking
of Mercury's rotation does not in fact result in a permanently dark hemisphere, and Asimov was careful to ensure that this was noted when the story appeared in anthologies printed after this advance in scientific knowledge.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
. The story first appeared in the July 1956 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
, and was reprinted in the collections Nine Tomorrows
Nine Tomorrows
Nine Tomorrows is a collection of nine short stories and two pieces of comic verse by Isaac Asimov. The pieces were all originally published in magazines between 1956 and 1958, with the exception of the closing poem, "Rejection Slips", which was original to the collection. The book was first...
(1959), Asimov's Mysteries
Asimov's Mysteries
Asimov's Mysteries, published in 1968, is a collection of 14 short stories by Isaac Asimov, all of them science fiction mysteries...
(1968), and The Best of Isaac Asimov
The Best of Isaac Asimov
The Best of Isaac Asimov is a collection of twelve science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. It begins with a short introduction giving various details on the stories, such as how they came to be written, or what significance merits their inclusion in a "best of" collection, as well as some...
(1973). "The Dying Night" is Asimov's third Wendell Urth story.
Plot summary
Three astronomers, who have been working on the MoonMoon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
and the asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
Ceres, meet for the first time in ten years at a convention on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. They also meet a former colleague of theirs, Romero Villiers, who had to stay on Earth because of illness. Villiers claims to have invented a mass-transference/teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
device, but dies under suspicious circumstances before he can demonstrate the device to his friends.
Another scientist who has seen the device demonstrated suspects that Villiers has been murdered by one of his classmates, and he questions them. In the course of his investigation, a photographic record of a research paper by Villiers describing his theory is discovered on a windowsill of the room, but is found to have been ruined through exposure to sunlight.
When none of the suspects admits any guilt, Wendell Urth, an eccentric scientist who has had success in investigating crimes, is brought in. He identifies the guilty astronomer as the one who has been on Mercury. The key lies in the idea (at the time of writing believed to be true) that Mercury has one face always pointing away from the Sun. The guilty party had hidden the film in what he thought was a safe place because he subconsciously expected the night to last forever.
Since the story was written, it has been discovered that the tidal locking
Tidal locking
Tidal locking occurs when the gravitational gradient makes one side of an astronomical body always face another; for example, the same side of the Earth's Moon always faces the Earth. A tidally locked body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner...
of Mercury's rotation does not in fact result in a permanently dark hemisphere, and Asimov was careful to ensure that this was noted when the story appeared in anthologies printed after this advance in scientific knowledge.