"The ship wallowed on her way, through a bleak glory of stars, alone in light-years of emptiness with her cargo of hate and fear and misery and dreams. We worked, and waited, and the slow days passed." (p. 344)
This passage is notable as an early use of Poul Anderson's phrase, "glory of stars," but with the antithetical adjective, "bleak," added to match the hate, fear and misery inside the Gorzuni slaver ship.
Can a spaceship "wallow"? Maybe, when its "assistant" engineer, Manuel Argos, has deliberately sabotaged the engines and equipment and made his captors think that only his constant work keeps the ship going. With Reeves and Kathryn as his assistants, he might be able to take over the ship. Then, given the right leadership - Manuel - humanity should be able to expel the Baldics from the Solar System and overrun their home planets.
After many installments set during the period of the Solar Commonwealth, events are now moving very fast in a single short story. Volume III, Rise Of The Terran Empire, is the major turning point of the seven-volume The Technic Civilization Saga.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't think the Gorzuni ship was literally "wallowing." Rather, it seems to mean Anderson metaphorically thought of the ship as OVERLADEN "...with her cargo of hate and fear and misery and dreams."
Sean
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