Sleeping brains process data. I awoke aptly associating Anderson's "Time Lag" and another sf work. In
Dan Dare's first interstellar story, the war-like Phants periodically attacked the peaceful Crypts who appealed to Earth for help. During Dare's ten year absence, his old enemy, the Mekon, conquered the Solar System with "The Reign of the Robots" but kept Dare's colleagues in suspended animation although not, as I assumed at the time, for Dare's benefit!
In "Time Lag," the humanly colonized planets, Chertkoi and Vaynamo, are fifteen light years apart but the Chertkoians, able to accelerate spaceships instantly to near light speed, attack Vaynamo three times at thirty year intervals. However, unlike the Crypts, the Vaynamoans know how to fight back. With three decades to prepare, they annihilate the Third Expedition.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I thought "Crypts" an odd name for a people! To US, the word means underground compartments or cellars.
IF the Vaynamoans had been at a TRULY backward stage of technology (say, at about an 1850 level), I doubt thirty years would have been long enough to adequately prepare for defeating the Chertkoian Third Expedition. Recall how S.M. Stirling commented on how rarely a David defeats a Goliath in these situations.
Sean
Post a Comment