In a new and still disordered universe, galaxies and protogalaxies with every possible velocity are very close to the ship. The space travelers can:
pick the clan, cluster and galaxy that they want;
within reasonable limits, arrive in a galaxy at any point of its evolution that they want -
- although they cannot:
overtake any galaxy before it is a billion years old;
reach any galaxy that is more than fifteen billion years old.
They are still "time traveling" at least in the forward sense.
They need a planet rich enough in heavy elements for the establishment of an industrial civilization but not so rich that its soil has been poisoned. Reymont wants to enter a galaxy younger that the Milky Way was when they left it because he wants humanity to be the first intelligent race. A globular cluster should have had many early supernovae that would enrich the interstellar medium enough to make second-generation stars sufficiently Sol-like. If such a cluster cannot be reached quickly, then a less metal-rich system will suffice because the Leonora Christine has hydrogen fusion and technology that can utilize light alloys and organics.
Poul Anderson continues to present new information until the very last page, which I still have not quite reached yet.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And to put it a little crassly, by picking a planet when the new universe was still quite young meant the crew of the "Leonora Christine" would not have to compete with anybody else for a really desirable planet!
Sean
It would be interesting to know how far away they can detect a habitable planet and how much margin they have for course corrections... Best they not go into a globular cluster- we know what can happen there!
-kh
Kaor, Keith!
It's been too long since I last read TAU ZERO for me to say, off the top of my head, how the scientists and navigators in the "Eleonora Christine" chose a planet to examine.
Sean
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