There is no cosmic interference on the radio. Acceleration has ended so there is no weight. Astronauts who have gone EVA are completely invisible to each other except for the dull light from their lamps. Space had always been a black background to stars but this is the absence of background.
Federoff says that they are dead:
"'...the final cutting off...No sun, no stars, no sound, no weight, no shadow -'" (p. 139)
That sounds like the Eddaic account of the Ginnungagap, yawning gap, which was before gods, sky and earth. In this dead realm, the EVA gang finally repairs the decelerator.
Chapter 17 begins with glimmering lights ahead: bright points which are not stars but clans, groups of groups of galaxies. What will happen next?
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Fedoroff's comments and thoughts, if not kept firmly under control, could well be the beginning of him going clinically insane. That's how they struck me, anyhow.
Sean
A couple of things:
1) Federoff's thoughts sound stereotypically Russian to me.
2) This makes me think of a cosmic isolation tank....
While I am not a religious or spiritual person, I recognize that others are able to experience things that I cannot. I would think cosmic voids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void_(astronomy)) like this could be ideal places to meditate or pray- they are sacred places as free from any type of material distraction as can be. If you are a theist, where better to hear the Voice of God?
-Keith
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