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Scientifictionist, v. 1, issue 4, April 1946

Page 13

AMONG THE CLASSICS--III
by Norman Stanley
BEYOND PLUTO: Novel by John Scott Campbell. 
Wonder Stories Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Summer 1932)

John Scott Campbell is one of those elusive individuals whose writing makes one wish'd see more--much more--from his pen, but who, alas, , appears only at geological intervals.  BEYOND PLUTO is, to the best of your reviewer's knowledge, Campbell's only one novelette (1) and two short stories (2,3) by this author.  All are to be recommended.

The idea of an obscure, highly advanced, civilization concealed in the African interior and carefully avoiding any contact with the barbaric rest of us is hardly unique in scientifiction.  Yet it presents possibilities which Campbell has seized upon and developed into a most surprising and entertaining yarn.  Some thousands of years ago the Metyrs, and advanced human species, had been forced to migrate to earth from their original home, the moon.  On landing in Africa the founded their nation of Zongainia, which subsequently absorbed Egyptian and Phoenician tribes that fled to the interior in retreat before the Roman Legions.  The Zongainians, from their encounters with the warlike Roman, concluded that the people of the earth were too uncivilized to make further intercourse desirable, and hence they isolated their land by erecting natural barriers about it.  In their interior fastness they had since grown to a nation of many millions, yet one in which the Metyer blood predominates, due to the lengthy life-span of that species.  But even though the Zongainians still prefer to remain unknown to the other nations of he earth they are in no sense of an insular temperament, but instead have active contact and trade, via interstellar travel, with many other advanced civilizations on distant worlds.

Zongainia maintains its integrity by deporting all hapless explorers, who brave the barriers to enter the forbidden domain, to a planet of Alpha Centauri--about the most secure place imaginable! And that is what happens to the protagonist of the tale, a party of of five explorers.  They find the Zongainians to be a highly cultured and likeable people, who are regretful, but nonetheless firm, in the action to install he five as permanent residents in the "Discontented Club", as the little colony of exiles on the Centaurian planet, Dunsaan, is termed.

The seeming hopelesness of their situation is relieved, however, when after arriving on Dunsaan they are let in on an escape plot devised by the previous exiles.  They find that the club has been working sub rosa for many years on the abandoned hull of a prolo,, or space car, which they found in a nearby swamp.  Tho they had succeeded in rebuilding the ship with parts filched from the neighboring prolo dockyard, the death of one of their number had left them with no one able to install and use the navigational instruments.  This the new arrivals accomplished partially when the discovery of the plot by their Zongainians jailers forces them to take to space in the rebuilt ship.     

But it is speedily found that even the finest of space craft (and the Zongainian prolo is a fine space craft!) won't take them home when no one knows the way across the vast interstellar distance.  When our friends sight another prolo in space and decide to follow it, on the gamble that it will lead them back to earth, they find instead that it has precipitated them neatly into the thick of an interstellar war and the obscurities of a hostile and definitely alien civilization.  
When they are shot down in  a battle of prolo fleets over the enemy planet of Kanan they are picked up by the crew of a Zongainian battle prolo, which has also been forced 
(1) THE INFINITE BRAIN, Science wonder Stories, Vol. 1 No. 12 (May 1930)
(2) THE INVULNERABLE SCOURGE, Wonder Stories, Vol. 2 No. 6 (Nov. 1930)
(3) THE SEEING EAR,  Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 9 No.1 (Feb. 1937)
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AMONG THE CLASSICS--III by Norman Stanley BEYOND PLUTO: Novel by John Scott Campbell. Wonder Stories Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Summer 1932) John Scott Campbell is one of those elusive individuals whose writing makes one wish'd see more--much more--from his pen, but who, alas, , appears only at geological intervals. BEYOND PLUTO is, to the best of your reviewer's knowledge, Campbell's only one novelette (1) and two short stories (2,3) by this author. All are to be recommended. The idea of an obscure, highly advanced, civilization concealed in the African interior and carefully avoiding any contact with the barbaric rest of us is hardly unique in scientifiction. Yet it presents possibilities which Campbell has seized upon and developed into a most surprising and entertaining yarn. Some thousands of years ago the Metyrs, and advanced human species, had been forced to migrate to earth from their original home, the moon. On landing in Africa the founded their nation of Zongainia, which subsequently absorbed Egyptian and Phoenician tribes that fled to the interior in retreat before the Roman Legions. The Zongainians, from their encounters with the warlike Roman, concluded that the people of the earth were too uncivilized to make further intercourse desirable, and hence they isolated their land by erecting natural barriers about it. In their interior fastness they had since grown to a nation of many millions, yet one in which the Metyer blood predominates, due to the lengthy life-span of that species. But even though the Zongainians still prefer to remain unknown to the other nations of he earth they are in no sense of an insular temperament, but instead have active contact and trade, via interstellar travel, with many other advanced civilizations on distant worlds. Zongainia maintains its integrity by deporting all hapless explorers, who brave the barriers to enter the forbidden domain, to a planet of Alpha Centauri--about the most secure place imaginable! And that is what happens to the protagonist of the tale, a party of of five explorers. They find the Zongainians to be a highly cultured and likeable people, who are regretful, but nonetheless firm, in the action to install he five as permanent residents in the "Discontented Club", as the little colony of exiles on the Centaurian planet, Dunsaan, is termed. The seeming hopelesness of their situation is relieved, however, when after arriving on Dunsaan they are let in on an escape plot devised by the previous exiles. They find that the club has been working sub rosa for many years on the abandoned hull of a prolo,, or space car, which they found in a nearby swamp. Tho they had succeeded in rebuilding the ship with parts filched from the neighboring prolo dockyard, the death of one of their number had left them with no one able to install and use the navigational instruments. This the new arrivals accomplished partially when the discovery of the plot by their Zongainians jailers forces them to take to space in the rebuilt ship. But it is speedily found that even the finest of space craft (and the Zongainian prolo is a fine space craft!) won't take them home when no one knows the way across the vast interstellar distance. When our friends sight another prolo in space and decide to follow it, on the gamble that it will lead them back to earth, they find instead that it has precipitated them neatly into the thick of an interstellar war and the obscurities of a hostile and definitely alien civilization. When they are shot down in a battle of prolo fleets over the enemy planet of Kanan they are picked up by the crew of a Zongainian battle prolo, which has also been forced (1) THE INFINITE BRAIN, Science wonder Stories, Vol. 1 No. 12 (May 1930) (2) THE INVULNERABLE SCOURGE, Wonder Stories, Vol. 2 No. 6 (Nov. 1930) (3) THE SEEING EAR, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 9 No.1 (Feb. 1937) page 13