The Milky Way

(The Milky Way as seen in Thailand.)

From the bridge of Muddlin' Through, Falkayn sees:

"...the Milky Way an argent cataract..."
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT Chapter IV, p. 78.

From another spaceship, Coya had seen:

"...argent torrent of Milky Way..."
-Poul Anderson, "Lodestar" IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 631-680 AT p. 642.

Here is a new Andersonian exercise: find descriptions of the Milky Way. There are bound to be many. In fact, I have just found fifteen more. Van Rijn sees that:

"The Milky Way was a quicksilver river..."
-Mirkheim, Chapter III, p. 65.

Before that, Falkayn and Coya together saw:

"...the ghost-road of the Milky Way..."
-Mirkheim, Chapter I, 33.

Van Rijn sees:

"...the spilling silver of the Milky Way..." (See "A Glory Of Suns," here.)

Earlier explorers had seen that:

"The Milky Way was a torrent of silver." (See "The View From Space," here.)

In a novel outside the Technic History:

"...the glittering belt of the Milky Way." (See "The War Of Two Worlds II," here.)

In another such novel:

"...the Milky Way cleaving [the dark] with frost..."
-Poul Anderson, Genesis (New York, 2001), Part One, Chapter 1, p. 3.

In The Peregrine (part of the Psychotechnic History), the Milky Way is described as:

"...the ghostly bridge of stars." (See "Navigating," here.)

In Tales Of The Flying Mountains:

"...the shining belt of the Milky Way." (See "Stark Splendor And Drifting Clouds," here.)

-and:

"...the Milky Way cataracted around the sky..."
-Poul Anderson, "Sunjammer" IN Anderson, Tales Of The Flying Mountains (New York, 1984), pp. 207-248 AT p. 207.

In The Boat Of A Million Years, the Milky Way is:

"...like a river of frost and light." (See "Pytheas," here.)

On Ishtar, the Milky Way is called the Ghost Bridge. (See "Fire Time, Chapters I and II," here.)

During the Man-Kzin Wars:

"...the Milky Way torrented..." (See "Stars thronged...," here.)

In "SOS," a character sees:

"...the Milky Way's cataract..."
-Poul Anderson, "SOS" IN Anderson, Dialogue With Darkness (New York, 1985), pp. 193-221 AT p. 197.

In another period of the Technic History:

"...the argent torrent of the Milky Way..."
-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 437-662 AT Chapter IV, p. 479.

In Tau Zero:

"...the Milky Way belted heaven with ice and silver..."
-Poul Anderson, Tau Zero (London, 1973), Chapter 2, p. 18.