Coya, astrophysicist and frequent space traveler, is at home in the universe, able to identify the brightest stars among the rest. The Dewfall has traveled at high speed for nearly a month from Quetlan towards the Deneb sector. Since Quetlan is 278 light years from Sol towards Lupus, they are now a hundred parsecs from Earth in unknown space. Coya knows this. To that extent, she is as at home there as a Londoner is in Hyde Park. The universe is our home and we ought to be one with it.
-copied from here.
We first read of Avalon in Hloch's Introduction to "The Problem of Pain," then in a conversation on Lucifer:
The planet Lucifer is inhospitable but might be marginally habitable and has mineral wealth. Both days and nights are long, storms are frequent, there is no green vegetation and the violent blue sun continually disrupts electronics. A uranium-concentrating root causes a unique ecological cycle in one area.
-copied from here.
I am rereading the relevant passages of "The Problem of Pain" for any more information about Lucifer. The narrator tells us that the planet is well named. However, if it proves to be even marginally habitable, then its mineral wealth will be worth exploiting. The exploratory team must determine whether the survival problems can be solved economically. Furious day-time weather ends in a twilight gale. Storms blow dust. The air is thin. Auroras flame. Frost covers the land and glittering ice sheathes twisted "trees."
When, in the concluding sentence, the sun rises from the burning horizon, I think that this is an appropriate pathetic fallacy for the theme of the story. See here.
No comments:
Post a Comment