Friday, 8 May 2020

The Chronology Of "Star Ship"

"Star Ship."

According to Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History, the hyperdrive is invented in 2784 and "Star Ship" is set in 2875, a mere 191 years later. According to "Star Ship," human beings have been stranded on the planet Khazak for two generations, thus since about 2835 in round numbers, just 151 years after the invention of the hyperdive.

Also according to "Star Ship":

the Galactic civilization has existed for centuries;

an unspecified "Service" sends out exploratory ships armed with atomic guns;

there are too many stars for the Galactic Coordinators to find a lost ship;

expansion into the Khazak region of space had not been scheduled for another two centuries;

the expedition had departed not from Earth but from an obscure outpost called Avandar and had detected a Sol-type star with a terrestroid planet while in flight;

thus, no one knows where they are.

This does not sound like the Psychotechnic History timeline although maybe this story could be set later?

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Just remember that Poul Anderson did not consider himself bound to accept the dates Miesel proposed in her chronologies. Also, my belief is that Miesel sometimes made mistakes with her dates. Which means I believe fans are free to rearrange her chronologies to propose dates they believe to be more correct.

Ad astra! Sean