See Something Basic on the James Blish Appreciation blog. This post summarizes Jack Loftus' meeting with the galactic ruler, the Hegemon of Malis. Note the machines standing along the walls of the mountainous audience room. (Jack compares the room to the Hall of the Mountain King.)
Next, read Poul Anderson's account of Captain Torres' approach to his meeting with Nicholas van Rijn:
"...this hall of lucent plastic, among machines that winked and talked between jade columns soaring up into vaulted dimness..."
-Poul Anderson, "Margin of Profit" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 135-173 AT p. 137.
Difference: plastic as against stone. (Does "jade" mean the mineral or the color?)
Similarities: height and machines.
An old sf image of the future is that it will be full of machines.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm a bit puzzled why you find the cover illustration for this issue of ASTOUNDING so objectionable. It shows us a group of soldiers, one of whom wears a kilt, and another with a wounded arm. I can't make out the title of the story it illustrates or the author's name, however.
Sean
Sean,
I find the foreground figure rather unsightly!
Paul.
Paul and Sean:
The story is "Pandora's Planet" by Christopher Anvil. The "unsightly" figure in the foreground is an extraterrestrial. Tut-tut, Paul; you're showing shocking species bigotry to say he's unsightly just because he almost looks human!
"Pandora's Planet" is something of a satire. One reviewer summarized:
"The aliens have landed on Earth--and conquered. But that's only the beginning of their problems. Humans are insane, with all kinds of crazy ideas. How can they be controlled? And, more importantly, how can they be stopped from taking over the galaxy?"
Kaor, Paul and DAVID!
Paul: the gentlebeing wearing the kilt does have a rather thuggish appearance, I admit!
David: thanks for the explanation. I think I have heard of Christopher Anvil, but I'm not sure I ever read any of his works. And I have read some stories of that kind, about conquering aliens underestimating mankind and being conquered themselves. Some of them quite amusing. Albeit, I'm not at all sure the human race would be able to so easily overturn rule by aliens and take over themselves. "Solider From the Stars" and THE WAR OF TWO WORLDS gives us some of Anderson's ideas about what conquest and rule by aliens might be like.
Sean
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