"'Orion is a spaceship. A fleet of them.'" (p. 311)
Skyholm rules the territory below it with lasers fired from the stratosphere. Orion will free the world from Maurai rule with lasers fired, or weights dropped, from orbit. In a James Bond film, SPECTRE, controlling an orbiting laser, is able to destroy any missile that begins to be deployed against it, then to offer nuclear monopoly to the highest bidder. The Northwesterners have peaceful plans for space-based solar energy.
They complain that currently the Maurai force them to use coal although they also have "'...abundant hydroelectric potential...,'" (CHAPTER SIXTEEN, 2, p. 277) as was recently pointed out in our combox.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
That is a weak point in ORION SHALL RISE, as Stirling pointed out. The Northwest Union did not NEED that much coal, aside from certain specialized uses. And I like that idea, of a space based solar energy system, far better than anything the Maurai can offer.
Ad astra! Sean
The weakness with SPECTER selling a nuclear monopoly to the highest bidder is that once they've got it, they can welsh on the debt or kill you.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree. And I think Anderson used a similar idea more plausibly in his story "The Soldier From the Stars."
Ad astra! Sean
It's a variety of the "Prisoner's Dilemma".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
So that is what it is called? I am reminded of Flandry saying explicitly in THE PLAGUE OF MASTERS how he used a form of the Spanish Prisoner scam to deceive Sumo the Fat!
Ad astra! Sean
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