Sunday 18 September 2016

By Cosmos

In her cell, the kidnapped Chee Lan recognizes:

"...space gear, by Cosmos!" (David Falkayn: Star Trader, p. 248)

She is being taken to another planet in the Korych system. But, meanwhile, I am more interested in her interjection. "By Cosmos..." is more characteristic of Poul Anderson's first, Psychotechnic, future history. However, words and phrases can be swapped around between timelines.

In the Psychotechnic History:

a Cosmic religion is part of the future historical background (see here);
it begins in 2130 (see here);
the phrase, "Cosmos knows..." is used (see here).

But there is no such religion in the Technic History where Chee lives although, later, there is a "Cosmenosis." The Technic History tells us considerably more about its Cosmenosis than the Psychotechnic History tells us about its Cosmic religion but I do not think that adherents of the former swear by Cosmos. However, only sf geeks can get interested in comparative religion between timelines.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Ha! You beat me to mentioning the Cosmenosism we see in THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN, centuries after "Day of Burning."

And I do wonder what Chee Lan meant by "Cosmos"?

Sean