Pirx’s Tale (The Hunt, 1965) is the story of the protagonist as a commander working for a private ship-owner who hires pilots to bring space junk back to Earth – hundreds of thousands of tons of derelict rockets, probes, sputniks and similar junk, freely drifting in space. Its crew consisted of a bunch of the strangest types; to make matters worse, a few of them were suddenly struck down by a childish disease, mumps – the only healthy ones were a perpetually drunk telegraphist and a road engineer, who took part in the project not because of his competence, but only to earn some money. Pirx, left to his own devices and deprived of people and functioning equipment, did not manage to establish the first contact in the world’s history with a sighted ship of an alien civilisation – the long-awaited opportunity was missed unconditionally and irrevocably.
These stories, along with the text of the Dissertation, were included in the first edition of Tales of Pirx the Pilot (1968). The last story of this volume became the basis for the screenplay of the Polish-Soviet film Pilot Pirx’s Test directed by Marek Piestrak (1978). During a space voyage, Commander Pirx has to test the efficiency of the members of an unknown crew, consisting of both humans and androids imitating them perfectly, and determine who is who.
Meanwhile, on board the ship a mechanical usurper makes an attempt to seize power, making no secret of his aspirations to rule the entire world. The meticulously thought-out plan fails only due to Commander Pirx’s indecision, which leads to the android’s annihilation and the happy return of the rest of the crew to Earth. It is also another eloquent commentary of Lem on the issue of human attempts to use artificial intelligence.
Ananke (Insomnia, 1971), Pirx’s tenth adventure, expanded the final canonical (Polish) edition of Tales of Pirx the Pilot (1973). The commander, this time on Mars, witnesses a disaster during the landing of a state-of-the-art ship. His detective-like instinct directs him towards the people responsible for the on-board computer program.
The trail turned out to be right – a version of the new software was being tested by retired Commander Cornelius, Pirx’s commanding officer at the time, an incorrigible perfectionist who tormented his subordinates with an unprecedented attachment to insignificant details. He was removed from flying due to the discovery of his obsessive-compulsive personality. The tasks he set while ‘training’ new software many times exceeded the capacity of the on-board computer at the crucial moment of the rocket landing, which caused a gigantic crash.
Pirx addressed a message to the former commander: 'Thou Art the Man,' for he knew that the title of Edgar Allan Poe’s detective story, as well as its contents, was not unknown to the unknown killer. By his signature, he added in accordance with the facts: ‘member of the committee to investigate the causes of the 'Ariel' disaster'. Cornelius actually turned out to be the man, accepted responsibility for the death of the ship’s crew, and joined the victims of his obsession with a bullet in his mouth.
With the short story Ananke, Stanisław Lem concluded the series of adventures of Pirx the Pilot; however, the writer’s last novel entitled Fiasco should be considered its ultimate culmination. The first two stories about the brave pilot, printed in episodes in a youth magazine, were the basis for the whole series. Subsequent Tales of Pirx the Pilot gradually grew up with their protagonist, and hopefully with the reader, properly preparing him for participation in the intellectual discourse about the future of our planet. Stanisław Lem’s cosmos, which expanded its sights with each additional story, remains so fascinating because of its very earthly dimension.
Originally written in Polish by J. Kowalczyk, translated into English by P. Grabowski, December 2021