Earth In "The Master Key"

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Poul Anderson, "The Master Key" IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, March 2010), pp. 273-327.

Searching through The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume II, David Falkayn: Star Trader, for stories or even single scenes set on Earth, we find only "The Master Key," although, as I have said, "Lodestar," set entirely outside the Solar System, does convey some sense of living in the Commonwealth.

"The Master Key" follows in the footsteps of "Birthright." A flitter lands on the Winged Cross at dusk. Venus shines. Chicago Integrate lights up. This time, the background sound is described as "...a low machine throb..." (p. 276) The unnamed first person narrator walks between roses and jasmine. This is one narrative difference. In "Esau," Emil Dalmady is described in the third person. Again there is trollcat rug, a viewer wall and a male human servant. 

This is a five-sided conversation, not just two-, as in "Esau." The characters converse about events on the planet Cain but the text continually returns to the setting of their dialogue - a comfortable way to recount dangerous adventures. At the end, van Rijn gestures at the city beneath the stars around the planet.