"Fenn's eyes went toward the glare-hidden stars. The Lunarians at Proserpina and Alpha Centauri - and now fugitive stories of Terrans at three new suns, whole new worlds, and the galaxy open to them - As he had done before, uncountably often, he choked down his craving and concentrated on the business at hand."
-Poul Anderson, The Fleet Of Stars (New York, 1998), 4, pp. 44-45.
Jimmy:
"(Oh, treetop highways under the golden-red sun of Cynthia! Four-armed drummers who sound the mating call of Gorzun's twin moons! Wild wings above Ythri!)"
-Poul Anderson, "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 175-197 AT p. 183.
"...a journeyman merchant of the Polesotechnic League...the go-to-hell independence in his face, which turned me sick with envy."
- op. cit., p. 184.
Different history, different galaxy, same wanderlust - which I do not share. I want women and men but not necessarily me to be out there. Nor do I want to die as far as possible away from my home planet especially since it is the only environment anywhere in the universe that I am adapted to live in.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't know if I would act on it, if the opportunity was offered me, but I have more sympathy for the longing of Fenn and James Ching to get OUT there into the universe than to be content with a placid life.
Sean
Sean,
However, space travel and placidity are not the only two options.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
What other options are there, really? I would still prefer something like Anderson's Technic Civilization, during either the heyday of the Polesotechnic League or the Empire at its height.
Sean
Sean,
Well, I'm mentally and physically active, not placid, now.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Good! For I had this bit from Chapter 18 of THE ENEMY STARS, near its end: "For no people live long, who offer their young men naught but fatness and security." A view I absolutely agree with!
Sean
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