Molten Gold And The Evening Star

Poul Anderson, "Chain of Logic" IN Anderson, Twilight World (London, 1984), pp. 35-68.

Roderick Wayne reminisces about life before the War (World War III, that is):

"The quiet summer dusks were not to be spent in worry or petty plans for the next day, there was always time enough for that. He simply walked along in his loose-jointed fashion, breathing tobacco smoke and the cool still air, watching the tall old trees mirror themselves in the water of the molten gold and copper of sunset. There would be a few students on the broad smooth lawns, who would hail him in a friendly way, for Bugsy Wayne was well liked - otherwise only the river and himself and the evening star." (1, pp. 39-40)

We now recall later evocative references to the evening star: Ave Stella Maris!

Here we also find a vivider multi-sensory descriptive passage than we might expect in an sf paperback about mutants and a trip to Mars -

hearing: quiet, friendly hails;
sight: dusks, reflections, gold, copper;
taste and scent: tobacco;
sensation: cool air.

We are also starting to meet the characters who will matter in this part of the story.