""Flandry looked to the blaze of space, stars and stars and stars. He thought that an estimated four million of them, included in that vague sphere called the Terrestrial Empire, was an insignificant portion of this one spiral arm of this one commonplace galaxy. Even if you added the other empires, the sovereign suns like Betelgeuse, the reports of a few explorers who had gone extremely far in the old days, that part of the universe known to man was terrifyingly small. And it would always remain so."
-"A Message in Secret," p. 342. (For full reference, see
here.)
Here, the standard information about the size and shape of the Terran Empire has been combined with the frequent reflection on this one spiral arm of this one galaxy. See
here.
Although I am retired, this week, Monday to Saturday, I have got involved in activities that involve getting up early every morning. This is a quick post over breakfast. I hope to be back later in the day.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Even if some readers think these anxious reflections on how small and insignificant the Empire was are overdone, I enjoy them. Also, they do have a practical function in the stories, being meant to set the background for these tales.
Sean
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