Friday 20 February 2015

A Habitable Planet?

When the Aleriona invaded the human colony planet, New Europe:

"Never doubting Earth would hurry to their aid, the seaboard folk of Pay d'Espoir fled inland, to the mountains and forests of the Haute Garance. That nearly unmapped wilderness was as rich in game and edible vegetation as North America before the white man." (The Star Fox, p. 145)

How probable is that on another planet? I don't know. But Anderson shows us that life is never as simple as it might appear. That opening phrase, "Never doubting Earth would hurry to their aid...," is crucial. The New Europeans know that they cannot survive indefinitely because their environment, however rich, lacks vitamin C. They have pills but not in an unlimited quantity whereas the Aleriona control the farms with Terrestrial plants and the towns with chemical factories.

Apart from that, the Haute Garance sounds like perfect defensible territory:

high tech;
low population;
wealthy colonists with hunting, fishing and camping equipment and flying vehicles;
fifty thousand scattered, easily camouflaged lodges and cottages;
portable chargers using solar, wind or water energy;
a communications net;
incomprehensible local dialects;
bases for launching raids against occupation forces;
a temperate climate;
perfect except for the lack of vitamin C.

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