"The Dronning Margrete was not of a size to land safely on a planet. Her auxiliaries were small spaceships in their own right."
-CHAPTER NINE, p. 81.
So, in the absence of Star Trek transportation beams, the auxiliaries are used for planetary landings? They must be, but also:
"'Is my information correct that the auxiliaries of his Lordship's so impressive vessel possess hyperdrives in addition to gravitics?'
"'They do, distinguished colleague. But the two largest carry an airboat apiece as their own auxiliaries.'"
-CHAPTER TEN, p. 101.
This sounds like "Even my escape craft has an escape craft!" which I find that I have already quoted in this connection here. (See also The Big One Gets Away.) Auxiliaries with hyperdrives can be used for more than orbit to surface transport. In fact, Flandry can use an auxiliary with hyperdrive to escape into interstellar space and can later launch the auxiliary's auxiliary as a missile from what is supposed to be an unarmed craft. Poul Anderson has carefully pre-prepared both Flandry's escape and his evasion of pursuit.
Flandry flies far.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think you may be missing some of the PRACTICALITIES of interstellar travel, assuming a FTL drive. It would make SENSE for a FTL ship which is large enough to also have FTL auxiliaries. So that the crew and passengers of, say, the "Dronning Margrete," would have a chance of survival if some disaster happened to the ship in deep space. And since it might not always be wise or possible for this smaller space ship to land on a planet, it makes sense for it to have an airboat, as its auxiliary.
We know, from "Outpost of Empire," that a light cruiser such as "HMS Isis" was the largest category of Navy ship which could safely land on planets. From which I infer that the "Dronning Margrete" was even larger than "Isis." That is an impressive example of how wealthy the Empire was if a civilian like Lord Haukseberg could own such a ship!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The Dronning belongs to Ny Kalmar but is in practice a yacht for the current viscount.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I did think of that, but my point was that if a small part of Terra like Ny Kalmar (what is now Denmark?) could afford such a ship for the viscounts, it speaks to how wealthy the Empire was.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
It does indeed.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul and Sean!
I had always assumed that Ny Kalmar was a planet or something (perhaps a stellar system, or a country on an inhabited planet), but it could be a place on Terra; after Kalmar (currently in southern Sweden) was destroyed by the Baldic League during the Troubles, it could have been rebuilt as Ny Kalmar. It’s too bad we can’t ask Anderson about this.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
P.S. When Lord Hauksberg talked about his nonexistent colonial nephew with Prince Josip, that made think that the nephew was from, or would have been from, if he had existed, Lord Hauksberg’s domain somewhere out in the Empire.
Kaor, Nicholas!
I realize you often seem to be busy, so thanks for this comment!
Yes, but the southernmost province of Sweden, at he very tip of the peninsula (called "Scania," I think), was part of Denmark till Sweden wrested it from the Danes during one of their many wars, around 1650. So Old Kalmar (and possibly New Kalmar) may have both been on Terra.
But, like you, I had "automatically" assumed Lord Hauksberg's domain was on Terra. And, during the Breakup, after the invention of the hyperdrive, I can see some planets being settled by Scandinavians or even mostly by single Nordic nations like Denmark. So Lord Hauksberg's fictional nephew could have been from a colonial planet!
Regards! Sean
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