Book Review: The Creatures That Time Forgot by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury passed away a few weeks ago, and I noticed that his passing got a lot of attention from the Disney fan community.  It turns out that Bradbury was very involved in the vision and development of what became Epcot.  Walt Disney's original vision as part of his east coast "Project Future" was to have an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT).  It wasn't intended to be a theme park, but an actual city - a living experiment of a different way of living.  Walt Disney died in 1966, five years before Walt Disney World opened its doors, and 16 years before the opening of Epcot Center.  Epcot's final product is far removed from Walt's original vision, which may have been too grand to become reality - at least at that time.  What Epcot was at opening, and what it is today is largely due to Ray Bradbury's involvement and his influence on it as a futurist.


That aside, prior to his passing I didn't know much about Bradbury.  I had heard of him, and had heard of his best known work, Fahrenheit 451, although I didn't know anything about it or who its author was.  I remember reading some sci-fi novels and really enjoying them when I was in elementary school, but haven't picked up a sci-fi novel since.  I searched for Bradbury's works and found Fahrenheit 451 along with many short stories and novellas.  I told myself I'd try one of them and if I like it continue with Fahrenheit 451.  Conclusion: I'm reading Fahrenheit 451 now.


****If you intend to read this novella, don't read any further.
Back to the topic at hand, The Creatures That Time Forgot.  The premise of the story is unbelievable...guess that makes for good sci-fi.  The characters are human and it begins with the main character, Sim, being born at night and immediately having "racial" knowledge of things and feeling his blood coursing at 1,000 pulses per minute.  The planet he lives on is very close to the Sun (or a star) and the days are hot and fiery and the nights are cold and frozen.  Its inhabitants live in caves and can ONLY venture out for an hour at dawn and an hour at dusk in the transition from cold to heat and vice versa.


In Sim's world a person's lifespan is 8 days, and therefore everything in that life is greatly accelerated.  After two days of living a fourth of your life is gone.  The story goes on to explain more about his knowledge of things before having been taught anything, witnessing his parents' rapid aging and death, and the crux of the story - his refusal to accept the situation for what it is.  


In their community they have "scientists" (who also have 8 day lifespans) who try to find ways to extend life, but ultimately carry a defeatist attitude and treat their work as pointless.  They also have warriors, who are the young men in their 3rd and 4th days of life.  When the warrior part of life was first introduced I thought the "moral of the story" would be fruitlessness of war in such conditions.  If you're only going to live for 8 days what is there worth fighting for?  It turns out there is a neighboring community of cave dwellers and something about their caves allows them to live for 11 days instead of just 8.  Sim's community fights with them to try to gain their ground, but loses because the 11 day community is on higher ground.


Included with Sim's "racial" knowledge is knowledge of a spaceship that is nearby, but too far away to reach in the hour that can sustain life.  No one has ever made it to the ship and they have quit attempting to get to the ship, more evidence of the defeatist mentality that plagues the entire population.  Sim is unique in that he will try anything to get to the ship and see if it allows him to live longer.  He gets himself into a one on one battle with an 11 day lifer and outsmarts him.  This allows Sim and his life partner "Lyte" to take refuge in the defeated's cave.  They boldly decide the next day to make a run for the ship and barely make it, but when they get in it shields them from the effects of the Sun and their planet, slowing their growth and pulses to normal rates, throwing them into a lethargy that lasts several days.  

As Sim explores the ship his racial knowledge informs him that they can control the ship, but that he needs more people to do so.  He devises a way to get back to his caves without dying (it takes longer than an hour).  Upon his return his sister and a childhood nemesis (from just a few days ago) are near death, and no one in the community knows him.  They nearly kill him as being an intruder from the other community but he convinces some of the population to return to the ship with him (again, he devises a way) and help him make it work.  The end of the story is a rush.  Lyte tells Sim she had a bad dream where people lived in caves, and only lived for 8 days.  He tells her the dream is over and they take off in the ship for parts unknown.  


I've been thinking and trying to find a lesson in the story - something about life revealed in seeing it greatly accelerated, or conversely if slowed down.  It is mind numbing to think of a life only lasting 8 days, and that one would go through all the things that happen in life in that time: growth, learning, love, procreation, aging, and death - and all of that while knowing it will cycle in just over a week.  Some insects have a lifespan this short.  They're not thinking, cognizant creatures like us (I think), but they have to do all the things they need to do in a lifetime in that short span.


Is it a lesson to not accept rules of life as they seem if you sense that there's another way out?  I really don't know.  I'd be curious to hear what others think.  Maybe it's just a good story written on a crazy premise.