Thursday, 28 March 2019

Garden In Space

Poul Anderson, Tau Zero, CHAPTERS 3 and 4.

In Chapter 3: ion drive; free fall and EVA; ramjet.

In Chapter 4:

a garden with a view of space and stars described as "Sable and diamonds..." (p. 34);

ferns, orchids etc;

a glittering, tinkling fountain;

warm, moist, perfumed air;

whispering, shivering, vibrating energies of the Bussard system.

Four senses?

Does that spaceship look like the Enterprise?
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4 comments:

  1. Sean M. Brooks28 March 2019 at 14:53

    Kaor, Paul!

    Not in the least! I find the "Leonora Christine" far superior and vastly more convincing as a SPACE SHIP than I ever did the "Enterprise."

    And it makes sense, assuming the room and facilities exist, for a space ship to have a garden. For both practical and psychological reasons.

    Sean

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  2. Anonymous28 March 2019 at 16:43

    @ Sean: the cover picture looks vaguely Enterprise-like, which I suspect was the idea.
    *I like the idea of gardens on a ship for the reasons given. It seems that the tech of the L C's time is such that "every gram counts" no longer applies. Do we have any guestimates of L C's dimensions?

    Cheers,
    Keith



    *I also like the ide of a living, organic/semi-organic ship, e.g. "Moya" in Farscape, but NOT "Lexx" in Lexx.

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  3. paulshackley2017@gmail.com28 March 2019 at 17:12

    Both,
    Yes, I meant the ship in that cover illustration rather than as described in the text.
    I would have to check whether we are told about dimensions.
    Paul.

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  4. Sean M. Brooks28 March 2019 at 18:46

    Kaor, Keith!

    No, I had the ship as described in TAU ZERO in mind, not the usually terrible cover illustrations.

    And I think every gram will continue to matter! Simply adding a garden was another of building in fail safes and widening one's options, IMO.

    Sean

    ReplyDelete