Present And Future

The King of Spain has just been on TV, expressing support for relatives of people killed in a massive train collision. Does the Terran Emperor do likewise when the screen field generators of a luxury liner approaching Callisto fail, killing everyone on board? How much of our experience would be reproduced in the Terran Empire? Their tourists include extraterrestrials although not Ythrians because that species cannot fly in Terrestrial gravity. I do think of Ythrians when pigeons proliferate in Market Square.

In other fictional narratives by Poul Anderson, aliens, immortals and time travellers are among us now. A fan could walk around town comparing real and fictional experiences although I do not know how many people do that. Not me all the time. Remember that fictional characters experience their worlds. Jim Ching sees a blue Alfzarian in an airbus just as I see foreign students in a ground bus when I travel locally with a free pensioner's pass.

(Attending the Gregson last night, I learned of an upcoming fiftieth anniversary! Life is good when it's not bad and I am now about to switch off from Poul Anderson and reread some more Ian Fleming before turning in. Laterz.)