Monday 3 June 2019

On Arzun

"Sargasso of Lost Starships."

There is an "...old ruined highway..." (p. 408) but would the Arzunians, able to teleport, have needed roads? (If yes, then they would have constructed them telekinetically.)

"A lonely bird, cruel-beaked and watchful, hovered on great black wings far overhead, waiting for them to die." (ibid.)

Yet another bird of prey.

When I knew that there was an as yet uncollected Technic History installment entitled "Sargasso of Lost Starships," I expected something like a hard sf story set in a planetary system where disused interstellar spaceships had drifted together into a common orbit, as had happened once in a Dan Dare story, not an action-adventure story where men from Earth fight beautiful humanoid aliens with swords. (As in the first two Dominic Flandry stories, the use of swords in a technological future is rationalized.)

Donovan is a defeated enemy of the Terrans and has previously established a rapport with an Arzunian so which side is he on? Does he know?

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

This is not quite on topic, but we also see mention in ENSIGN FLANDRY of old, obsolete warships nearly being ready to be sent to the scrap orbit. I imagine that to mean worn out ships being stripped and dismantled, with useful metals and parts being recycled or sent to rolling mills. So some planets WILL have lots of disused ships orbiting them.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
It is that sort of setting that I envisaged for the story, a lot of orbiting ships.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Altho I doubt the Arzunians had anything so practical in mind! (Smiles)

Sean