The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle
"The Black Cloud" is a science fiction novel set in the late 1960s, focusing on the arrival of a vast, intelligent gaseous cloud that threatens Earth. The story begins when a Norwegian astronomer discovers the cloud while observing the night sky, prompting a meeting of top scientists, including Dr. Christopher Kingsley, at Cambridge University. As the cloud approaches, scientists predict catastrophic effects on the planet's climate, leading to extreme weather and potential mass panic. In an effort to manage the situation, Kingsley establishes a communication center at a local estate and ultimately confirms that the cloud is aware and capable of understanding human concepts.
Upon establishing communication, the cloud reveals its ancient wisdom and warns humanity about the dangers of overpopulation. While some government officials consider destructive measures to drive the cloud away, Kingsley and his team advocate for a cooperative exchange of knowledge. The novel raises significant questions about intelligence, survival, and the responsibilities of both humanity and extraterrestrial entities. The narrative is presented as a manuscript left for the grandson of a musician who entertained the scientists, hinting at deeper connections and the hidden truths surrounding the cloud's visit.
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Subject Terms
The Black Cloud
First published: 1957
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—superbeing
Time of work: The 1960’s, and 2021
Locale: England and the United States
The Plot
The Black Cloud concerns the apocalyptic visit of an enormous gaseous cloud to Earth in the years 1967-1968. It is first sighted by a young Norwegian astronomer as he is studying the night sky through the Schmidt Telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California. World-renowned astronomers are immediately informed at England’s Cambridge University, where Dr. Christopher Kingsley, an astronomy professor, calls for a meeting with scientists from the United States, England, and Australia. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena predict that it will take the cloud approximately eighteen months to arrive. Even though the damage will be cataclysmic, precautions can be taken, depending on where people live. Survival will depend on people’s ability to bury themselves deep enough in the ground to protect themselves first from the intense heat caused by molecular collisions in the upper atmosphere and then from the cold that results when the cloud blocks the sun’s rays.
Both the president of the United States and the prime minister of England fear that knowledge of the cloud’s arrival will result in mass panic, so they try to suppress the facts. Kingsley, however, threatens to expose the coming of the cloud if these officials fail to do so. Kings-ley, who becomes the leader of the scientists, decides to move their equipment to an estate called Nortonstowe, which he establishes as the center of radio communication for the world. The cloud arrives months earlier than expected, resulting in floods, hurricanes, and tremendous fluctuations in temperature.
When the weather stabilizes, the scientists begin to realize that the black cloud is a living and intelligent being, and they initiate procedures to try to communicate with it. The cloud quickly learns the English language and mathematical formulas. With communication established, an enormous exchange of information begins, and the cloud informs human beings that unless they address Earth’s major problem, overpopulation, there will be terrible consequences. The cloud tells them that it is more than 500 million years old, and it offers the astronomers its definition of intelligent life: “something that reflects the basic structure of the universe. . . . We’re both constructed in a way that reflects the inner pattern of the Universe.”
In the meantime, both the English and American governments have become concerned about the cloud’s destructive power and form a plan to drive it away by firing hydrogen rockets into its interior to disrupt its electrical circuitry. The cloud decides that it will not destroy Earth and that it will soon depart. The astronomers, however, insist that it remain long enough to transmit as much of its scientific knowledge as possible. The cloud attempts to reprogram the brains of Kingsley and another scientist so that they can absorb information more quickly, but both volunteers die in the process. The truth of the cloud is never made public. The novel takes the form of a manuscript by one of the scientists at Nortonstowe, left to the grandson of Ann Halsey, a concert pianist who had been at Nortonstowe to provide entertainment for the scientists. The author implies that the grandson is also the grandson of Kingsley.