Heim sees his own reflection in "...an optex..." (NESFA collection 2, p. 417). What's one of them?
He lands his space boat at the Mojave Port. Isn't that where Branson is trying to get into space?
An Aleriona speaks:
"'...little enclaves are significanceless; and Alerion has ways to integrate them into civilization; ways slow, as you look upon time, ways subtle, ways quite, quite certain.'" (p. 401)
Creepy.
Gunnar Heim speaks:
"'...space really is big enough for everybody, as long as they respect each other's right to exist.'" (p. 427)
Much better. Alerion is an old, inflexible civilization. If it cannot coexist with a dynamic society, then it should not continue to exist.
1 comment:
Hi, Paul!
I checked a couple of dictionaries and I did not find "optex" in either of them. I think this was a word coined by Poul Anderson, and the context where we see it in "Marque and Reprisal" clearly indicates it means "mirror." The word "optex" would be one of the ways PA shows us of how living languages changes as time passes.
Sean
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