Clifford Simak’s "Doll of the Dead" Summary

This 1971 novel takes the reader to the remote outskirts of a star cluster. This book is a science fiction tale about the search for absolute truth and an encounter with a civilization of universal wisdom-gatherers. The plot centers on a motley group of explorers stranded on a deserted planet amid monolithic porcelain structures and titanic trees.

The work was published as an independent novel and is not part of the author’s series.

A deal on Earth and landing in a trap

Experienced space captain Michael Ross secretly arrives on a semi-abandoned Earth in an old starship. The pilot is on the run from defrauded shareholders after a scandal surrounding the sale of rights to an uninhabited planet. In the bar of a spaceport hotel, a robot hands the captain an invitation letter from wealthy heiress Sarah Foster. The owner of a luxurious country estate offers a huge sum for piloting a brand-new exploration yacht. In the library, the captain meets the wandering monk Tack and the blind clairvoyant George Smith. Smith claims to hear a distant psychic calling from an uncharted sector of the universe. Sarah hopes to find explorer Lawrence Arlen Knight, who disappeared centuries ago.

The crew launches into space. The navigator guides the vessel via a powerful radio beacon directly to the galactic core. The starship descends onto a snow-white landing pad amidst cyclopean towers.

Guests are greeted by mechanical horses. Leader Dobbin urgently urges the crew to abandon ship before sunset due to the onset of deadly vibrations. The travelers hastily load their bags onto the backs of the clockwork steeds. A spider-like device suddenly glazes the yacht’s hull with white glaze. The yacht’s hull instantly transforms into solid porcelain.

Dobbin brings the team to a strange building with glowing wall tiles. A small hunchback flips a dial and sends the team through a stone portal into a sandy desert.

Dunes and escape through the portal

Among the sand dunes, Ross discovers the wreckage of an alien craft. A round, helpless creature named Whistler lies in a deep ravine. The alien begs for help. The captain carries his new companion to the camp on his broad shoulders.

A huge steel wheel with a green center hangs in the night sky. A hideous slug descends along a silver web and, with a deafening roar, hurls the aliens back into the city hall.

The travelers find the custodian sorting through his camping gear. Caught red-handed, the hunchback confesses to years of deceiving arriving crews in order to steal their belongings. He recounts a long-ago visit by Lawrence Knight, accompanied by the telepathic robot Roscoe. The mechanical servant’s brain unit was sold to wild centaurs in the north.

The party replenishes its water supplies. The travelers set out on a trek along an ancient trail.

Seed bombardment and the loss of the seer

Along the road, colossal tree trunks, several kilometers tall, rise up. One of the trees suddenly unleashes a hurricane of heavy seed pods. The squad takes refuge in an ancient red stone shrine.

The captain burns out the barrel with a well-aimed shot from his laser rifle. Whistler saves the commander from a deadly poison by infusing someone else’s blood into his own body. Monk Teck picks up a crude wooden figurine with a sad face in the temple trash. That night, blind George disappears without a sound.

Tournament on the Centaur Plateau

In a deep gorge, the wind-up steeds are frightened by a pile of giant bones and flee back to the city. Whistler falls into a ghostly state from extreme exhaustion. Monk Teck voluntarily transfers some of his life force to his alien friend. In a rockfall in the gorge, people free a trapped horse named Old Paint.

On a vast plain, the detachment stumbles upon a camp of wild centaurs. The half-horses are excitedly chasing Roscoe’s brain with clubs instead of a ball. The monk attempts to initiate peace negotiations. The barbarians agree to return the ball only to the winner of the knightly duel.

The captain dons Tekka’s cassock. Michael rides out into the arena with a rusty sword. Sarah kills the ferocious enemy with a well-aimed shot from a heavy rifle right into his forehead.

The travelers return the brain to its steel case. The animated robot recites poetry and complex formulas. The guide’s metal hand points the way to distant mountains.

Fake Paradise in the Valley

Monk Tekk grows weaker day by day and vanishes without a trace in the mountain pass. Near a stone arch, the travelers find a metal sign with rules. The instructions prohibit bringing weapons and machinery. Leaving Roscoe and Paint at the gate, Sarah, Michael, and Whistler descend into a deep canyon.

A blooming valley with antique white porticoes opens before their eyes. A gray-haired old man in a loose toga comes out to greet them, introducing himself as Lawrence Knight. The owner speaks rapturously of eternal peace and shows them a box containing tangled manuscripts.

The whistler lifts the mental haze. The captain sees a fetid ditch and a decrepit madman in a rotten shack. Michael knocks out his enchanted companion with a punch and carries her out the gate.

The Cache of Civilization and the Final Breakthrough

Sarah refuses to trust the captain and secretly escapes back to the valley on Old Paint at night. The Whistler passes into the third realm of existence and leaves the physical world. The alien transfers the mental memories of his people to the captain.

Michael carefully studies Knight’s notes. The colossal trees serve as cosmic collectors of the universe’s intellectual radiations. The acquired knowledge is encoded in the structure of ripening seeds. Intelligent gardeners use the planet as a gigantic repository of accumulated wisdom.

Roscoe’s robot fully regains logical thinking. The mechanic constructs an emitter and scrapes away the monolithic crust from the ship’s hull. The captain takes the laser weapon and rushes to the mountains to retrieve his abandoned companion.

Sarah gallops toward them on Paint. The woman recognizes the falseness of the ancient valley. A countless horde of bipedal lizards overtakes the fugitives from behind. The monsters close in on the encirclement on a narrow patch of land.

Roscoe draws a formula for interdimensional transition on the dusty ground. Sarah clutches a wooden figurine to her chest. Michael recalls the Whistler’s experience and comprehends the sacred purpose of the ancient artifact.

The fugitives step through the invisible boundary between worlds. The group arrives in a quiet, sunny land with a river, hills, and friendly inhabitants.