Moonlight Cliff: and Other Stories - Tapa blanda

Moonlight Cliff is a collection of six short stories by the popular Russian writer Ivan Efremov.

*Moonlight Cliff: Georgy Balabin is an archaeologist in search of mammoth remains in the heart of Siberia. In a battle for survival, struggling through deep snow, avalanches, across glaciers, and with dwindling food supplies, what he finds is worth a great deal more – ancient cave drawings that change their knowledge of pre-historic Siberia forever. But will he survive and manage to take his findings back to the civilized world?

*Shadows from the Past: On a scientific expedition to the Takyrs region to retrieve specimens from a large dinosaur bone field, Nikitin and his crew first endure dust hallucinations, and then they all see an animated vision of a Tyrannosaur. As a scientist, Nikitin is captivated, and embarks on a lifetime search to duplicate the conditions that allowed him to glimpse into the shadows of the past, through timestamps captured in fossilized rocks. Does he succeed to capture in pictures what his eyes saw?

*Lake of the Mountain Ghosts: What is it that kills all living vegetation, animals, and humans? While searching for asbestos deposits in the middle of the Katun, an engineer is encouraged to visit the artist Chorosov. There he becomes fascinated by one of the paintings depicting ghosts and shimmers, and the artist tells him the background story to it, about an isolated lake where everyone who tries to stay there, soon dies. Why? Will this newcomer solve the mystery of the Lake of Mountain Ghosts?

*Diamond Mine: Ignoring requests from his Professor to give up and return, Churilin decides to stay out in the field and continue to search for a diamond field he’s positive exists. He knows winter is approaching and it will become very dangerous to remain in the swamps, but he can’t let go of his instinct that he’s right – and he succeeds. But, does he succeed in battling the elements to take his discovery back to his employers?

*Fakaofol Atoll: A Russian naval war veteran, Captain Ganyeshyn, inspired by a speech from a famous oceanographer, settles into a life as a maritime researcher after the war – and he’s developing underwater camera apparatus to map the ocean seabed. By chance, they are beckoned by a distress call, to an American research vessel who had lost their connection to their bathysphere and their two scientists inside. It now lay somewhere on the ocean floor, and their oxygen will be running out. Can the Russians help find the exact location of the sphere, and can the scientists be rescued in time? Are they even still alive?

*The Trails of Old Miners: Mining engineer Kanin is sent to the expanses of the steppes to map out an abandoned labyrinth of tunnels hollowed deep into the earth over a vast expanse of time. Here he befriends an old foreman who used to work in these mines. One day, the foreman accompanies him, but they both become trapped underground when a cave in happens. Fortunately, the old foreman knows of secret passages, and in a two-day journey through darkness and danger, he eventually leads them to the surface. On the way, the old foreman tells Kanin about Andryushka Szavrin – the discoverer of these secret passages, and how they once saved his life too.