"Curiosity" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by author Adam Heine. It was published in the thematic anthology Tomorrow's Cthulhu by Broken Eye Books in January 2016.[1]
Synopsis[]
A manned mission is sent to distant Mars to investigate imagery sent back by the Curiosity rover which suggests evidence of an ancient civilisation. On the outward journey, the crew are beset by nightmarish dreams and an unexplained space walk accident which drives one member insane and leaves the ship with a depleted power supply, forcing them to continue to their destination.
Upon arriving on the planet, the lander is attacked by a bizarre creature, but are able to repel the beast. Making their way into a series of caverns which run beneath the surface of Olympus Mons in search of the rover and its power supply, they encounter a vast chamber filled with what appears to be the statues of three-legged tree people. Glyphs carved into the cavern walls depict the history of these entities who believed themselves to be the children of some great Mother which pushed them from world to world, consuming all in their path before encountering Earth and a species of "tubular beings on spindly legs, like a bacteriophage," who successfully repelled their assaults.
At this point, the tree statues begin to animate, and herd the survivors deeper into the catacombs, towards an enormous maw. Fortunately, the distraction caused by the reappearance of the creature which attacked the lander and the subsequent battle between it and the tree people allows the two remaining crew to escape, although they are forced to leave the power cell behind. They manage to launch the lander off-planet, but realise that they will soon die from lack of power and oxygen. Their final act is to send a transmission begging those listening on Earth to stay away from the Red Planet.
Behind the Mythos[]
When the first crew member is driven insane, she repeatedly chants a phrase of seeming gibberish containing the phrase Shub-Niggurath. Additionally, although never directly named as such, the tree people are implied to be the Dark Young, and Olympus Mons is strongly hinted to be the Outer God itself.
The "tubular beings on spindly legs, like a bacteriophage" would appear to resemble descriptions of the Elder Things. This is reinforced by the abilities of the creature which attacked the lander, which recalls the protoplasmic mimicking powers possessed by Shoggoths, a species which spent long years in service to the the Elder Things.
Trivia[]
- The Curiosity rover is a real-world space venture launched by NASA in November 2011, making Martian planetfall in August 2012. Despite having only been designed for a two-year mission, as of April 2025 the vehicle is still active and collecting data.[2]
References[]
- ↑ Title: "Curiosity" at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- ↑ Curiosity (rover) at Wikipedia