Sunday 2 June 2019

A Haunted Nebula?

In Poul Anderson's "Sargasso of Lost Starships," as in his Psychotechnic History, characters refer to "Galactic sectors" as if their field of action were the whole "Galaxy," not, as in the rest of the Technic History, a small part of one galactic arm.

We are not used to ghost stories on an interstellar scale:

the superstitious say that the Black Nebula is haunted;

there are stories of ships disappearing in the Nebula, of ghostly things seen and whispers heard in ships passing nearby and of men going mad;

there was inexplicable physical trouble with engines, lights etc;

Donovan recommended abandonment of the base on the planet Heim at the edge of the Nebula;

he suggests that Nebular radiation affects particles and nervous systems.

Research into reported apparitions at Muncaster Castle includes investigation as to whether zinc in the ground affects nervous systems. (I think.)

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Now that is intriguing! It even kinda makes it easier to think "Sargasso of Lost Starships" can, after all, be legitimately part of the Technic series. After all, even a space faring civilization is very likely to have its own stories, rumors, legends, etc., about alleged "paranatural" or supernatural apparitions.

Sean

David Birr said...

Paul and Sean:
Andre Norton's Solar Queen books (that's the name of their starship) mentioned several times that the ship's Cargo Master, J. Van Rycke, was a collector of interstellar folklore and particularly good at retelling the stories. Tales of "the Whisperers" whose voices are heard only by men who've been too long in space. Or of a Flying Dutchman called the New Hope, which took off with a load of refugees from a war on Mars and never set down anywhere, now seen only by ships themselves in dire trouble, so that "to sight the New Hope" is a proverb for being deep in it....

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, DAVID!

Cool! I think things like that WILL happen for real if we ever get off this rock for good! And I really should look again at Andre Norton's books.

Sean