Clifford Simak’s "Special Delivery," a summary

Written in 1982, this novel combines the traditional Saimak rural idyll with a fantastical test of human intelligence. This book is a narrative about an artificial labyrinth of alternate realities, in which random individuals from parallel eras of earthly existence undergo harsh hidden trials for the sake of saving all rational humankind. This edition was published separately from the book series.

A hiding place on a student campus

Literature professor Edward Lansing summoned student Thomas Jackson to his office. The young man brought a brilliant analysis of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, quoting from nonexistent monographs. Cornered, the student confessed to purchasing the completed text from a talking machine in the basement storage room of the university bar. The astonished professor descended into the dim light of the abandoned storage room, amidst lemonade crates and old file cabinets. A quarter jingled in its slot.

The iron box croaked out an obscene story about the island, spat out two keys with an address, and handed over a couple of silver dollars. A mechanical voice ordered them to visit an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city.

That evening, Lansing found the right house in the old business district. A large key unlocked the front door of a darkening hallway. A second lock opened a room with twelve slot machines lined along the wall. The fifth machine generously showered the professor with a cascade of gold coins engraved with a cube and a slender spire. The seventh lever worked differently. The twist of the metal handle erased the brick walls, transporting the stunned professor to a forest path among golden maples.

Meeting at the Petushok Tavern

An autumnal path led the traveler to a log inn with a blazing fireplace. Wanderers, transported by an unknown force from parallel branches of earthly history, sat by the fire.

Engineer Mary Owen arrived here from the world of the unshakable British Empire with the suppressed American rebellion. Brigadier Everett Darley oversaw the tournament battles of combat robots. Graduate poet Sandra Carver grew up in the refined atmosphere of the Third Renaissance arts. Country pastor Ezra Hatfield zealously guarded the tenets of the Puritan faith, recalling his garden of radishes. The robot Jurgens tended to the degenerating descendants of humans on a depleted planet after the exodus of humanity’s finest to distant stars. At a distant table, four pale card players silently shuffled a deck of cards.

Lansing paid for the night’s lodging with gold coins. In the morning, the six set off west along the overgrown track.

Obstacle in front of a blue cube

The road descended into a gigantic basin. On a sandy patch stood a perfect cubic structure, about fifteen meters tall, made of monolithic sky-blue porcelain. A perfect ring of fine white sand shone around the structure. Impatient, Jurgens strode confidently toward the smooth wall. A hidden mechanism erupted from the sand, throwing the robot back with a broken knee joint.

The foreman and the pastor attempted to probe the strip with long wooden poles. The guards’ weapons instantly cut through the wood. The officer demanded that they abandon the damaged satellite for the sake of speed. The pastor supported the soldier. Sandra silently followed the majority toward the suspected city. Lansing and Mary defended the metal satellite. The divided squad split up.

Lansing fashioned a crutch for the limping robot from a dry branch. At the edge of the dangerous circle, the professor dug up a wooden plaque with a warning sign in Cyrillic.

Dead Stone City

The journey across the drying plain lasted five days. At night, an invisible four-legged creature nicknamed Sopun quietly wandered around the camp. In the sky above, Mary spotted the gigantic, cold faces of observers.

Ahead, the brown ruins of a vast, abandoned settlement, devoid of defensive walls, appeared. The travelers caught up with the first trio in an empty administrative building near the central square. In the far hall, the Brigadier showed them a fragment of a working visor with a picture of an alien planet, where clawed humanoids darted among faceted boulders.

In the damp catacombs, researchers discovered a gallery of armored doors with viewing windows. Each panel led to a separate world. The pastor stood frozen before the glass, revealing pink apple trees in bloom. That evening, the chilling howl of an unknown beast erupted from the hills. The pastor completely lost his mind with terror. Early in the morning, the priest unscrewed the bolts with a wrench and disappeared forever into the panel of the blooming garden.

Under the flagstones of a nearby alley, Mary and Lansing discovered a working complex of polished spokes and glowing cells. Touching the translator apparatus catapulted the philologist’s consciousness to the outer reaches of galactic space, where an icy abyss of eternal emptiness opened up. The foreman abandoned caution. With a cry, the officer plunged into the depths of the singing installation and vanished in a blinding flash of sparks.

The Singing Tower and the Northern Cliff

The remaining four companions crossed the clay canyons. At a coastal tavern, the chrononaut Jorgenson and the artificial maiden Melissa joined the party. Soon, the travelers approached a pink stone needle thirty meters high. Sandra heard divine harmony in the tower’s hum. She knelt at the base of the spire, refusing to leave the elevated position.

Mary remained to look after the poetess. Lansing and Jurgens set out on a northern reconnaissance mission across the shifting dunes.

Along the way, the explorers came across a walking exoskeleton with a skull in a transparent helmet. Ahead rose a colossal wall of swirling, roaring darkness, punctuated by lightning flashes. The steep slope consisted of flowing sandy powder. Jurgens lost his footing and slid into the thundering Chaos Pit. Lansing followed his friend into the abyss. Four gamblers suddenly appeared on the ridge and tossed the professor a lifeline.

Road among the hills

The return to the pink needle brought grave news. Sandra lay like a withered mummy, given over to the spire’s vibrations. Her companion had vanished without a trace.

The tracks led back to the river. A huge, shaggy Weeper walked parallel to the road. Lansing overcame his fear, stroked the terrifying beast’s ear, and waded across the chilly stream. The innkeeper admitted to losing the note the girl had left behind.

The professor soon encountered Jorgenson and Melissa. The trio stumbled upon a hidden settlement of thirty wanderers led by diplomat Allen Corry. Jorgenson and Melissa chose to remain in the forest community for the peace of farming. Lansing gave the inhabitants the gold coins and hurried to the blue cube.

Revealing the plan

In the empty basin, Mary called out to the professor. The girl had the good sense to sweep the sand from the hidden stone slabs with a branch. The cleared path led the couple straight to the blue wall. A gentle push opened the hidden door.

Inside, there was a spacious hall with living wall paintings and a dozing Sopun. Four porcelain-faced gamblers sat on a couch. The hosts identified themselves as extraterrestrial agents of galactic charity. The experiment was designed to save intelligent species from an inevitable evolutionary dead end. The creators of the dead city themselves perished behind the wall of Chaos they had erected. The labyrinth’s traps weeded out fanatics, aggressors, and the weak-willed. Lansing and Mary had proven their loyalty to their companions, their capacity for self-sacrifice, and their clearheadedness.

The final door opened onto a blooming green meadow beneath unfamiliar constellations. Ahead, the towers of the university campus soared, ready to unite the survivors to build a wise community.