the Supermetals Company conceals the existence of its source of supermetals, Mirkheim;
the Merseians conceal the existence of a rogue planet that will destroy a star.
In For Love And Glory, the Dominance of the Great Confederacy tries to conceal an imminent collision between two black holes.
We have learned to anticipate that, during a dramatic confrontation in a Poul Anderson novel, background sounds, silences or sudden environmental alterations - like brightenings or darkenings - will punctuate and highlight the dialogue. Sure enough, when, during radio negotiations, a human captain suggests scientific cooperation with the Dominance:
"Silence seethed. Had the black holes moved perceptibly closer? Less than two days remained before the crash.
"'No...'" (XXIII, p. 130)
When a challenging question is not immediately answered, the ensuing silence seethes with significance. Converging black holes symbolize the inevitable negative response.
At a distance of just one light-hour, "...the incandescence around the black holes..." (XXI, p. 120) is bright enough to read by. There is indeed a lot to be learned from the black holes! And they grow visibly closer.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I now wonder how the Great Confederacy of Susaia hoped to profit in any political or military way from the collision of two black holes! But of course Anderson would think of ways how that might happen.
Sean
Sean,
Maybe just that new scientific knowledge always has unforeseeable practical, including military, applications. And this was a lot of new scientific knowledge.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
It did seem rather implausibly abstract and remote of the Susaians to hope profiting in any practical way from black hole studies! But, yes, new scientific knowledge can have any number of unexpected practical applications, both civilian and military.
Sean
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