Ravensquawk
Well-Flown Member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2006
- Messages
- 320
Media: Short story in anthology, probably, though I am not certain, paperback.
Original year of publication/airing: I read this before 1990s; it could be from 1940s to 1980s at a guess.
Major themes: Planetary exploration: by humans, of a single planet, possibly an exoplanet rather than Mars, although the main feature on the entire planet was sand.
Plot: Story describes one of the men (it was all men) in the low-flying flitters seeing oval granite-like domes exposed by the shifting sand, then disappearing again. He also sometimes sees round bright green circles, which are also intermittently exposed and hidden. There may be others who do not see or believe it. But they eventually land near the domes in one or more flitters.
They see that the domes in a circle around them are gargantuan stone heads with green eyes.
The only wording I found unforgettable is that a mouth opened in one of the heads. . . and gulped. It sucked up flitters, humans, everything. No one survived, and no signs of human life were left.
Setting: Space, mostly flying close enough to planet surface to see details, like aircraft flight here. Mars-like planet covered in sand.
Characters: Men, earth humans, small crews flying small craft. They flew low enough in the atmosphere to see some terrain. Don’t remember if connected with larger mothership.
The language I read or heard the story in: English
Details about the cover: None: those synapses stopped firing.
Target audience/age group: Adult
Ideas that I have already ruled out: Though it is absolutely a sand doom, it is not “Sand Doom” by Murray Leinster. That title grabs my attention every time, but no matter how often I check, “Sand Doom” is never my sought story.
Although “The Sands of Time” by P. Schuyler Miller is great, that is not even close.
It is also not the story about space craft no longer usable after sand has entered and destroyed all engines and electronics. I can not find this story after a long search either, and would like to know its title again, but I know from bitter experience that it is not the story in question here.
My first ask; this is a baffler.
It must be an obscure story, because most stories I sought would eventually show up again with enough reading, and this has never.
Original year of publication/airing: I read this before 1990s; it could be from 1940s to 1980s at a guess.
Major themes: Planetary exploration: by humans, of a single planet, possibly an exoplanet rather than Mars, although the main feature on the entire planet was sand.
Plot: Story describes one of the men (it was all men) in the low-flying flitters seeing oval granite-like domes exposed by the shifting sand, then disappearing again. He also sometimes sees round bright green circles, which are also intermittently exposed and hidden. There may be others who do not see or believe it. But they eventually land near the domes in one or more flitters.
They see that the domes in a circle around them are gargantuan stone heads with green eyes.
The only wording I found unforgettable is that a mouth opened in one of the heads. . . and gulped. It sucked up flitters, humans, everything. No one survived, and no signs of human life were left.
Setting: Space, mostly flying close enough to planet surface to see details, like aircraft flight here. Mars-like planet covered in sand.
Characters: Men, earth humans, small crews flying small craft. They flew low enough in the atmosphere to see some terrain. Don’t remember if connected with larger mothership.
The language I read or heard the story in: English
Details about the cover: None: those synapses stopped firing.
Target audience/age group: Adult
Ideas that I have already ruled out: Though it is absolutely a sand doom, it is not “Sand Doom” by Murray Leinster. That title grabs my attention every time, but no matter how often I check, “Sand Doom” is never my sought story.
Although “The Sands of Time” by P. Schuyler Miller is great, that is not even close.
It is also not the story about space craft no longer usable after sand has entered and destroyed all engines and electronics. I can not find this story after a long search either, and would like to know its title again, but I know from bitter experience that it is not the story in question here.
My first ask; this is a baffler.
It must be an obscure story, because most stories I sought would eventually show up again with enough reading, and this has never.
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