The spaceship captain is a psychotechnologist and swears by Cosmos but one of his crew says that the means of interstellar travel was discovered only a few decades previously which does not fit with placing this story in the 32nd century in the timeline.
The spaceship is exploring one part of the galaxy like the Enterprise and many other science fictional spacecraft. Several of the Psychotechnic stories do not form a linear history but merely share a common background.
I have yet to discover what the "Entity" is apart from being a dark sphere that absorbs radiation.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Keep in mind the Afterword Poul Anderson wrote for the first collecting of the Psychotechnic stories in the 1980's (also found in Volume I of THE COMPLETE PSYCHOTECHNIC LEAGUE). It helps to explain why he eventually became dissatisfied with this series. These stories comprise some of his earliest works, when Anderson was in many ways still learning the craft of writing. So, it's no surprise you came across awkwardness of the kind you discussed.
Sean
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