See previous post.
Pictures show three stars identified by their spectrograms: Sol, Phaeacia Sun and another star three hundred and fifty light years from Pytheas' present position. A line joins the first two stars and another line appears joining a point on that line to Star Three. Star Three is like the star in Pegasus that "'...may be the home of the nearest high-tech civilization...'" (p. 524).
Interpretation:
Star Three is a recent colony from Pegasi;
the colony detected historically recent radio broadcasts from a Solar planet;
the colonists placed robotic messengers along the routes from Sol to Phaeacia and to Pegasus;
they are inviting Pytheas to change course and visit them.
A majority of the Survivors want an early end to their journey and think that it is more urgent to colonize Phaeacia than to visit the Others. Hanno thinks that the latter is more urgent - the Others might not stay at Star Three. He is outvoted but then pulls rank as captain. He had programmed Pytheas to obey only him but had not told the others, intending to pull rank only in an emergency. I think that he is right that the ship should have a captain but was wrong not to warn the others in advance.
This is the first major conflict between the human passengers during the voyage. Before, there was some sexual jealousy and a potential argument about hunting versus farming. Pytheas is now going to Star Three.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, it would have been better if Hanno had told the other Survivors before they all left the Solar System that he would have the final authority in any serious dispute. A ship HAS to have a captain who makes the final decision, but everybody should have known that before the "Pytheas" left Sol System.
Sean
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