The View From The Winged Cross

We vicariously enjoy both the luxury of Nicholas van Rijn's skyscraper penthouse and the dangers of the planet Cain when two younger guests recount their adventures on that planet to their employer.

When David and Coya Falkayn look through the activated transparency in one wall of the penthouse (see "A Godland," here), there is as much traffic in the sky and on the lake as on the ground. That alone would make looking at Chicago Integrate a different experience. Above an early twenty first century city, we see a few aircraft but not lines of traffic-controlled aircars.

The view is described as comparatively fresh to David because he has spent most of his life off Earth. It would be more accurate to say that he has hardly ever been on Earth. He was born and grew up on Hermes and has worked in space. At the beginning of Satan's World, he is in the Solar System but on Luna, not on Earth.

The Falkayns will live on Earth when they start a family but later will lead the colonization of Avalon - and, at this stage, all of that is still in their future. Meanwhile, they understandably never tire of the spectacle from the Winged Cross.