In The City

Poul Anderson, Vault Of The Ages, Chapter 3.

Ronwy, Chief of the City Folk, warns Carl and his guides, Tom and Owl:

"'Be careful...There are many old pits and other dangerous places hidden by brush and rubble. Snakes are not unknown either.'" (p. 32)

In the 1950s and '60s, I visited a gypsum mine where my father was a Mining Engineer. It is near here and I would like to revisit it. However, the mine is closed and there are signs: "Danger. Keep off." It would be inadvisable to pass the signs. I think that the City Folk have lived in the City long enough for them to cover or at least mark with signs any dangerous pits.

Having heard stories, Tom and Owl expect ghosts and devils in the City although Ronwy has never met any. CS Lewis' The Great Divorce presents one region of the hereafter as a gray town inhabited by ghosts with devils in the background.

"The stories said these buildings had been called skyscrapers, and indeed, thought Carl wildly, their heights seemed to storm the heavens." (p. 33)

Thus, Anderson implicitly compares a city destroyed by nuclear war with the Tower of Babel.