A Tragedy Of Errors: Conclusion

Roan Tom and his wives meet in an abandoned castle but then fly their stolen aircraft into a violent storm and have to crash land on a grounded barge where, however, their Nikean adventures end because Yasmin solves the mystery of Nike and its sun, thus enabling Tom to bargain by radio with the local feudal lord:

stars and their planetary systems condense from hydrogen and helium;

about 98% of any star is these two gasses;

large planets keep their original hydrogen, thus are "gas giants;"

Earth-sized planets cannot keep their hydrogen but generate an atmosphere by internal processes;

heavy elements sink to the center, thus generating a core, which causes planetological processes;

volcanic, tectonic and radioactive heat force gas out of mineral compounds;

however, Mars-sized planets have weaker gravity and therefore form cores more slowly;

much of their iron instead combines in surface rocks;

smaller planets form a core and generate a substantial atmosphere only when they are old;

Nike, very small but with a breathable atmosphere and native life, must be extremely old and so must its sun;

this explains the sun's erratic behavior;

because the sun is not young, as was thought, but very old, the hydrogen at its core is almost exhausted, nuclear reactions are moving outward and "'...the photosphere is expanding and cooling while the total energy output rises...'" (Flandry's Legacy, p. 534);

thus, the sun is becoming a red giant and is currently in a variable, transitional stage;

knowing this, meteorological experts imported by Tom will be able to predict solar activity and to forecast the violent Nikean weather, thus enabling the Nikeans to save lives and to make big economic savings.

There is one more linguistic misunderstanding. Yasmin, who is to be left as a hostage while Tom and Dagny depart and return, tells Tom that she will "'...make arrangements with quite a number of men.'" (p. 539) Tom is not sexually possessive but cannot afford to be disrespected. However, Yasmin means that she will persuade several Nikean lords that they want to restore her Sassanian Shah to his throne with Krakener weapons, training and transport, provided by Tom.

Tom, already powerful on Kraken, will now have a sound alliance for trade and defense with Sassania and Nike. Thus, he is in the forefront of building the Allied Planets which will re-civilize other planets and start to end the post-Imperial Long Night.