Out Around Rigel

In Short

Robert H. Wilson’s science fiction story follows Dunal and Garth, two inhabitants of a futuristic Moon who build an advanced interstellar spacecraft named the Comet. Driven by ambition and a rivalry over a woman named Kelvar, they embark on a six-month expedition to the distant star Rigel, traveling at multiples of the speed of light. Upon returning to their home world, they discover a devastating temporal paradox: due to relativistic mass increase and time dilatation, their brief voyage actually spanned a thousand years, leaving the Moon airless, ruined, and completely abandoned. The story endures through its poignant blend of early space-age hard science fiction and tragic, atmospheric drama.

The Story

The narrative opens on the Moon in the water-built city of Nardos, where lifelong friends Dunal and Garth practice fencing in the brilliant Earth-light. Garth has constructed the Comet, a helio-beryllium spacecraft powered by mercury disintegrators and an auxiliary gravity engine capable of bending space to achieve massive acceleration. Despite warnings from Dunal about the relativistic increase of mass approaching the speed of light, Garth insists his gravitational field protects the occupants. Urged on by a complex love triangle involving Kelvar—a woman cherished by both friends—Dunal impulsively joins Garth on the flight.

The ship launches into the starry void, accelerating steadily past the solar system and toward the blue diamond of Rigel. During the journey, the two men stand alternate eighteen-hour watches, navigating past stray comets and enduring a monotonous, star-swept routine. Fourteen days later, they reach Pi Orionis, eventually crossing the midpoint of their journey where they decelerate and arrive at a forbidding, silicon-based planet orbiting the double star Rigel. Donning space suits painted with protective helio-beryllium, they explore the sun-scorched surface, only to be ambushed by aggressive, glass-like silicon creatures that emerge from the sand.

Amidst the scorching heat and hostile environment, Garth's erratic jealousy flares into open hostility, and he demands a duel to the death with their dueling swords to decide who deserves Kelvar. As they fight, they are swarmed by the aggressive native lifeforms, forcing them to turn back-to-back in a desperate struggle for survival. They manage to fight their way back to the cliffside where the Comet rests, but the creatures swarm the path. Recognizing his fate, Garth heroically sacrifices himself—slammed by the creatures and pulling off his helmet to plunge over the cliff—leaving Dunal to pilot the ship back alone.

Dunal navigates the grueling return trip in a sleep-drugged, somnambulistic state, finally landing back on the Moon near Nardos. To his horror, he finds the atmosphere has completely evaporated, the oceans are dried-up basins of alkali, and the once-glorious city is reduced to skeletal, crumbling ruins. He realizes the truth: while the ship experienced six months of travel, the relativistic slowdown of their clocks and bodies meant a millennium passed on the Moon. Finding himself entirely alone in a dead world with his provisions dwindling, Dunal finishes writing his manuscript and resolves to tear off his helmet at dusk to join Garth and Kelvar in death.

How It Unfolds

• The voyage begins: Dunal and Garth test the Comet on the Moon's shore before launching into space with the reckless ambition to reach Rigel in six months.
• Deep space transit: The men alternate watches as the ship accelerates to thousands of times the speed of light, navigating past comets and crossing hundreds of light-years.
• Arrival at Rigel: The vessel slows down and lands on a desolate, fluorine-rich planet where the twin stars blaze down on a forbidding expanse of sand.
• The silicon attack: Hostile, glass-like native creatures swarm the explorers, leading to a desperate battle under the blistering heat of the star.
• Garth's sacrifice: As the creatures overwhelm them near the ship, Garth makes a deliberate sacrifice, clearing Dunal's path before throwing himself over the cliff.
• The thousand-year return: Dunal pilots the ship back to the Moon, only to discover that relativistic time dilatation has left his home world a lifeless, ruined desert of the distant future.

The People

• Dunal: A skilled Lunarian swordsman and rational thinker who tries to warn Garth about relativistic laws, yet joins the voyage out of loyalty and his deep love for Kelvar. He ends up emotionally shattered, surviving a millennia-long journey only to find his entire world dead.
• Garth: A brilliant, volatile inventor driven by intense pride and fierce ambition who designs the Comet to conquer interstellar distance. His consuming jealousy over Kelvar ultimately leads him to force a fatal duel on a distant planet, culminating in his tragic self-sacrifice.
• Kelvar: A graceful Lunarian woman loved by both friends who swims in the surf under the Earth-light and begs Dunal not to risk his life on the dangerous flight. Though she remains behind on the Moon, her memory and the thousand-year passage of time frame the ultimate tragedy of the journey.

In Its Own Voice

"The sky was a hazy blue, and out over the deeper tinted waves the full Earth swung."

This line introduces the lunar setting where the narrative begins.

"After I've tried it out, we can go in a year to the end of the universe."

Garth expresses his boundless ambition and scientific hubris just before launching the Comet.

"In our reference frame, the vessel had put on an incredible velocity, and covered the nine-hundred-odd light-years around Rigel in six months."

Dunal reflects on the mechanics of their journey as he begins to grasp the reality of time dilatation.

What It's Really About

The story explores the profound psychological and physical toll of technological hubris, specifically the conflict between human ambition and the unyielding laws of physics. Wilson examines how scientific progress outpaces human wisdom, using the mechanics of relativity not merely as a plot device, but as a mechanism of profound alienation. The tragedy centers on the irony of conquest: by successfully bending space to master the stars, the travelers become exiles in time, severed from everything they sought to claim or protect. Beneath the pulp adventure lies a melancholy meditation on isolation, mortality, and the irreversible cost of chasing the impossible.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love classic, hard-edged science fiction with a melancholic, philosophical core will find this story deeply rewarding. Reading it feels like uncovering a lost artifact from the early days of speculative fiction, blending old-fashioned planetary romance with genuine scientific speculation about relativity long before it became a sci-fi cliché. Modern readers must look past some dated period prose and the rigid emotional dynamics of its characters, but the payoff is a strikingly poignant exploration of deep time and cosmic loneliness. What stays with you long after finishing is not the triumph of interstellar flight, but the haunting image of a lone explorer returning to find his entire world turned to dust.

What other classic science fiction themes or authors from the early pulp era do you enjoy exploring?