Ice Mountains And Blue Skies

Fiction is experience and imagination. Fantasy and science fiction are imagination but also experience.

"The engines began to thrum. Under way, outward bound to the ice mountains of Gorzun, no more to see blue skies and green grass, no clean salt smell of ocean and roar of wind in tall trees. Now we were slaves and had nothing to do but wait."
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 336.

It turns out that they do have something to do, to plan rebellion, but they are not at that stage yet. Anderson almost poetically expresses Terrestrial experience of sky, grass, ocean, wind and trees - and contrasts this familiar environment with the imagined ice mountains of another planet. Of course, "...ice mountains..." sound cold and hostile, especially when the characters are being taken there as slaves. Voluntary space travelers - explorers, traders or colonists - would view an extraterrestrial environment more positively.

And it turns out that even a slave might be able to take a positive view:

first, trained human slaves are valued, therefore might work in better conditions;
secondly, some slave owners can be decent individuals;
thirdly, there is the possibility of escape or rebellion.

Manuel, working for the Gorzuni:

notices Reeves' uniform and rank before the latter has to strip;
certainly notices when Reeves calls him a "'...filthy bastard...'" (p. 334);
can point out the few Gorzuni who understand Anglic;
has introduced the captain to marijuana;
is the de facto ship's engineer.

He is already well on his way towards organizing a slaves' revolt.