History Literature / Nightfall1941

* AlienSky: Lagash is a planet with six suns and one moon. Every 2,049 local years, the moon [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot eclipses the sole remaining sun]] on one side of the planet, causing the people of Lagash to go insane and destroy their civilization. The scientists theorize that prolonged darkness, something the Lagashites have normally no experience with, is the culprit. [[spoiler: It isn't just the darkness that drives the people insane; it's all the stars in it. Their astronomers had theorized that there might be other star systems, as many as twenty or even a hundred -- a number which another character whistles at, commenting that it would reduce their world to insignificance. Earth's sky would be enough of a shock, but Lagash is close to the center of the galaxy, and the splendor of a star-packed sky -- the sudden revelation of how vast the universe really is, and how indescribably tiny they are by comparison -- is enough to crush even the most "prepared" mind.]]

* DoubleBlindWhatIf: As the story begins, the discovery of how gravity works is an ''extremely'' recent breakthrough that's revolutionized all of science. When Sheerin explains it, Theremon notes what a simple concept it is. Sheerin agrees, saying that it only took so long because they needed advanced telescopes to track some pretty minute wobbles in the motions of Lagash's suns. Sheerin then, as a thought experiment, proposes a planet with only ''one'' sun, saying that its hypothetical inhabitants would probably develop the theory much quicker, as they could observe the sun regularly going up and down with no telescopes required, just the naked eye.

* TheStarsAreGoingOut: (InvertedTrope) When the six suns of Lagash all set (or are eclipsed), which happens every 2,049 years, the population goes utterly insane and destroys civilization. The protagonists speculate that the blackness of night drives the people mad; [[spoiler: in fact, they go mad when they look up at the night sky and see the thirty thousand stars around their little solar system (they are near the center of a globular cluster) and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation realize how much larger the universe is than they ever imagined, and how insignificant they are within it]].]]

* EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: {{Subverted}}. The people of Lagash believed the universe to consist entirely of their world and its six suns. More even than the Darkness, it is seeing the stars beyond their own and the consequent revelation of how utterly ''insignificant'' they truly are that drives the people of Lagash irreversibly insane during the Nightfall.

Theremon 762 is a [[MostWritersAreWriters newspaper reporter]] who, for two months before the events of this story, has been [[PropagandaPiece discrediting the astronomers]] and their reports of an upcoming [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot eclipse]] that will end their planet's EndlessDaytime. He's there to convince the head of the observatory, Aton 77, to let him write an article about the eclipse from the point of view of the scientists, [[TheWatson which provides a character for them to give exposition to]].

The [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot eclipse begins]], and the astronomers try to record every part of the event. While totality approaches, someone notices a smudge of darkness in the distance; it's the people from the nearest city, who likely have already started going insane. They barricade themselves against the invasion, but totality has arrived, making Beta completely eclipsed -- and bringing a terrible cycle full circle, though not for any reasons that any of the characters could have anticipated...

This story has been adapted into episodes of ''Radio/DimensionX'', ''Radio/XMinusOne'', and ''Podcast/EscapePod''; adapted into films in [[Film/Nightfall1988 1988]] and [[Film/Nightfall2000 2000]]; and adapted into [[Literature/Nightfall1990 a novel]] co-written by Creator/RobertSilverberg. The setting of Lagash also appeared in a CrossOver called "Literature/MaureenBirnbaumAfterDark", by Creator/GeorgeAlecEffinger. The original story has been [[{{Anthology}} anthologized]] over forty times, and Creator/IsaacAsimov would include it in six of his collections; ''Literature/NightfallAndOtherStories'' (1969), ''Literature/TheBestOfIsaacAsimov'' (1973), ''Literature/TheEdgeOfTomorrow'' (1985), ''Literature/OtherWorldsOfIsaacAsimov'' (1987), ''Literature/TheAsimovChroniclesFiftyYearsOfIsaacAsimov'' (1989), and ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990).