Stories of Ourselves: "Meteor" by John Wyndham

In this science fiction story, aliens come to Earth in the hopes of building a new civilization.

Here are links to our lists for the short stories in Stories of Ourselves:
The Hollow of the Three Hills, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Signalman, The Happy Prince, The Yellow Wall Paper, The Son’s Veto, The Open Boat, The Moving Finger, The Door in the Wall, Sredni Vashtar, How It Happened, Her First Ball, The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection, The Fly in the Ointment, The Custody of the Pumpkin, An Englishman’s Home, The Phoenix, There Will Come Soft Rains, The Prison, The Destructors, Meteor, Billenium, The Lemon Orchard, The People Before, The Enemy, Five-Twenty, A Horse and Two Goats, Report on the Threatened City, The Rain Horse, Ming’s Biggest Prey, The Village Saint, Secrets, The Stoat, Games at Twilight, The Taste of Watermelon, Journey (Patricia Grace), The Bath, My Greatest Ambition, To Da-duh, in Memoriam, Of White Hairs and Cricket, Elephant, Sandpiper, Journey (Shirley Geok-Lin Um), The Third and Final Continent, Tyres, At Hiruharama, Real Time, On Her Knees, The Contest
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. astray
    away from the right path or direction
    ‘Could have been an experimental one gone astray?’ she suggested.
  2. gist
    the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
    As an introduction to the notes which I intend to keep, I can scarcely do better than give the gist of the address given to us on the day preceding our departure from Forta by His Excellency Cottafts.
  3. altruistic
    showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others
    Since you are individuals, the proportions of the emotions which led you to volunteer may differ quite widely, but, however personal, or however altruistic your impulses may have been, there is a common denominator for all – and that is the determination that our race shall survive.
  4. flourish
    grow vigorously
    But we, so far, have been able to meet conditions as they have changed, and we flourish.
  5. surmount
    get on top of; deal with successfully
    In the past we have surmounted problem after problem to make this possible, but now we find ourselves faced with the gravest problem yet.
  6. senile
    mentally or physically infirm with age
    Forta, our world, is becoming senile, but we are not. We are like spirits that are still young, trapped in a failing body...
  7. receptacle
    a container that is used to put or keep things in
    Every man and woman of you is at once the receptacle and the potential fountain of all that Forta signifies. You have the history, the culture, the civilisation of a planet.
  8. fatalism
    a mental attitude accepting that everything is predetermined
    Not that fears trouble me so much now; I have learnt some fatalism in the past year.
  9. entail
    impose, involve, or imply as a necessary result
    The building of them has entailed labour beyond computation.
  10. stave off
    prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
    She led the way round to the yard, still talking to stave off a row between the Inspector and her father.
  11. rugged
    having long narrow shallow depressions in the surface
    The meteor was not an impressive sight. It lay in the middle of the bare board floor; just a rugged, pitted, metallic-looking sphere something over two feet in diameter.
  12. stimulant
    a drug that temporarily quickens some vital process
    That should pass quite soon, but we shall give you some capsules of concentrated food and stimulants to help you overcome the effects more quickly.
  13. distend
    swell from or as if from internal pressure
    I released the valve to inflate the space between the inner and outer walls of my compartment. As the lining distended I felt myself lifted on a mattress of air. The top bulged down, the sides closed in, and so, insulated from shock in all directions, I waited.
  14. hitherto
    up to this point; until the present time
    All my life hitherto has been spent on a dying planet where our greatest enemy was lethal discouragement.
  15. monstrosity
    something hideous or frightful
    We, the flower of civilisation, now cower before the hideous monstrosities that face us.
  16. irrevocable
    incapable of being retracted
    He reminded us that what had been done was irrevocable.
  17. fare
    proceed, get along, or succeed
    ‘We do not know, and we shall never know, how the other globes may have fared. So, not knowing, we must act as though we alone had survived, and as if all that Forta has ever stood for is in our hands alone.’
  18. stratum
    one of several parallel layers of material
    It was a vast level plain, but ridged, and covered with small, loose boulders. The ridges were somewhat like strata that had been laid side by side instead of one on another.
  19. crevasse
    a deep fissure
    Close beside us was a crevasse, as wide as my own height, also running either way, in a perfectly straight line. Some considerable distance beyond it was another, similar crevasse running exactly parallel to it, and beyond that a third, and an indication of a fourth.
  20. facile
    arrived at without due care or effort; lacking depth
    ‘I do not rush into swift, facile explanations,’ I told him. ‘I observe, and then, when I have gathered enough data, I deduce.’
  21. apprehension
    fearful expectation or anticipation
    There was something ominous about it, and for a moment we were all frozen with apprehension – then, before we could move, the most fearsome monster emerged from behind our Globe.
  22. dexterity
    adroitness in using the hands
    The legs which then came into view were like massive pillars, yet they moved with a dexterity and control that was amazing in anything so vast.
  23. folly
    foolish or senseless behavior
    As I watched, he lifted the weapon, and aimed. It seemed such folly against that huge thing, heroic folly. But Sunss was wiser than I.
  24. colossus
    someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful
    But it was too late, and the range was too great for them to do anything effective, besides, how could we hope to affect colossi such as these?
  25. trifling
    not worth considering
    Now our Globe, with all its precious contents is lost. Our inheritance is gone. We have nothing now; nothing, but our own few trifling possessions, with which to start building our new world...
  26. warren
    a series of underground tunnels occupied by rabbits
    Behind our cavern they had discovered a warren of broad tunnels, foul with the smell of unknown creatures and their droppings.
  27. beset
    assail or attack on all sides
    Several times they had been beset by different varieties of six-legged creatures, and sometimes eight-legged ones, all of horrible appearance.
  28. sentient
    endowed with feeling and unstructured consciousness
    Terrifying though they looked, it soon became clear, however, that they were only really dangerous when they made unexpected attacks for they were non-sentient and the fire-rods made short work of them once they had been seen.
  29. sap
    deplete
    This new, ghastly tragedy is starting to sap our spirits, and our courage...
  30. interim
    serving during an intermediate interval of time
    ‘Thought you might like an interim report on your “meteor”,’ he said to Mr Fontain.
Created on Thu Mar 08 09:35:56 EST 2018 (updated Fri Mar 23 15:37:51 EDT 2018)

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