Sunday 2 September 2018

POV And Planet

Poul Anderson, The Byworlder, II.

When Yvonne meets Almeida, the pov shifts from her to him. We read how he perceives her.

Next, Yvonne sees Earth from space:

day is "...a hundred rich shades of blue..." (p. 20);

above the blue are the swirling and "...dazzling pure whitenesses..." (ibid.) of weather;

land is unidentifiable, blurred and greenish brown;

on the black nightside are faint shimmers and bright sparks, the latter either storms or cities;

stars are sharp and unwinking;

the orbiting alien craft, a Bussard ramjet, is two separate shining coppery spheres, one larger and enclosed with turrets, needles, discs, frames, domes, webs and other objects, the other skeletal and open - but is also an interplay of forcefields.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I would have thought the continental outlines would be recognizable, on Earth's dayside.

And the Sigman came to Earth using a Bussard ramjet? He came using a relativistic, STL, spaceship? Then my memory erred saying the alien had a FTL space ship.

Sean