"Hooligan raised her lean form off the spacefield and hit the sky as fast as regulations allowed. Thunder trailed." (p. 62)
Thunder... Maybe we remember Thor from various works of fantasy. In any case, this is where the adventure really begins. The Hooligan, Dominic Flandry's private interstellar speedster, carrying Flandry, Chives and the current heroine, will effortlessly traverse the space between the Solar System and, in this case, the Maian System. Interesting things will be said, and possibly done, en route. Dramatic events will ensue after arrival. The reader relaxes while Flandry gets busy. First, he has to learn more about his destination.
I began this reread of A Stone... in search of information about Flandry's state of mind in these latter times and therefore commenced with his first appearance in Chapter III but perhaps I should now backtrack to earlier events in the Maian System which had set the plot in motion. ("Plot" has two meanings on this occasion.) We already know about Hermes but not about the nearby planet, Ramnu. As ever, a pyramidally structured Heinleinian future history series builds new structures on the foundation of information imparted in earlier instalments.
Onward and upward. Or, at least, outward.
No comments:
Post a Comment