Cities And Stars IV

See:

Cities And Stars III

Terrestrial Transformations III 

 

Hauksberg, viewpoint character of Ensign Flandry, CHAPTER ONE, remembers what fathers said to sons on Birthday two hundred years previously, then reflects that:

 

this galaxy comprises more that a hundred billion stars yet is only a "...dustmote..." (p. 6);

 

human beings have not yet explored the whole of this single spiral arm and probably never will (in fact, they will but a long time later);

some visible stars are not part of the Empire;

the Empire is ruled by force, its government is corrupt, its frontier is brutal and its Navy is war-mongering, oppressive and anti-intellectual;

so people get the message that they should not take the Empire seriously.

 

We have discussed Hauksberg's jaundiced view of the Empire here.