"Beneath the flyers, the Middle Ocean rolled luminous black. Above them were stars and a Milky Way whose frostiness cut through the air's warmth. Ahead rose the thundercloud mass of an island. Tabitha heard surf on its beaches, a drumfire in the murmur across her face.
"'Are you sure the thing landed here?' asked one of the half-dozen Ythrians who followed her and Draun." (p. 547)
The Middle Ocean is a major feature of Avalonian geography. (Scroll down.) Tabitha Falkayn flies with a gravbelt whereas the Ythrians are winged. Tabitha sees luminosity, hears surf and feels air on her face. Draun is her business partner. They are all members of the Oronesian home guard, investigating a downed space boat.
Tabitha is about to meet Philippe Rochefort. This meeting will decide the fate of the war.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I thought of how two Union soldiers accidentally finding a copy of Gen. Lee's special orders, during the Antietam campaign in the US Civil War, detailing how, where, and when he wished the different parts of his army to go, analogous to Tabitha meeting Rochefort. Those orders gave the Union commander, Gen. McClellan, the information he needed on what to do. The resulting battle at Antietam, altho a tactical draw, was a strategic defeat for the Confederacy. It was enough of a victory for the Union that it dissuaded the United Kingdom from granting any kind of recognition to the Confederates.
Sean
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