See also the "sense of adventure" links here.
"Lodestar" is about endings but introduces van Rijn's granddaughter, Coya Conyon, whose life is beginning:
"At 0.75 standard weight she still - after this long a trip - felt exhilaratingly light.
"She was not presently conscious of that. At first she had reveled in adventure. Everything was an excitement; every day offered a million discoveries to be made. She didn't mind being the sole human aboard besides her grandfather." (p. 376)
To be surrounded by (friendly) aliens must be an ultimate adventure. Coya's descendant, Tabitha Falkayn, will be brought up by Ythrians. Dominic Flandry's daughter, Diana Crowfeather, will live among Tigeries and Seafolk.
The sense of adventure is an essential aspect of sf.
11 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Actually, Diana Crowfeather's early years were spent mostly among the Tigeries settled on Imhotep, not the Seafolk.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I am quoting the text when I say Tigeries and Seafolk.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Only goes to show I should have rechecked THE GAME OF EMPIRE, instead of depending too much on my memories!
I think Diana's mother was one of the xenologists helping to resettle the surviving Tigeries and Sea People on Imhotep?
I just thought of something, now I wonder if the town of Olga's Landing in the highlands of Imhotep, where humans could breath the atmosphere, came from the name of the Grand Survey's ship, the "Olga"? I think so!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Diana's mother was.
Good guess about Olga's Landing.
Paul.
KAor, Paul!
And it probably shows how FAR the first human explorers went even in the earliest days of the hyperdrive.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
The fact Ythri seems to have a gravity only 75 percent that of Earth points to another reason why colonization was harder for Ythrians than for humans. I think only planets with fairly LIGHT gravities could be settled or flown on by Ythrians. Humans could apparently tolerate gravities up to 30 greater than Terra's (as we see with Imhotep in THE GAME OF EMPIRE. Could Ythrians fly on Earth?
Ad astra! Sean
Drat, I omitted the word "percent" after the "30" above!
Sean
Sean,
We are told that Ythrians can fly in terrestroid conditions so that sounds as if it includes Earth.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But we only see Ythrians flying on planets mentioned as having gravities lighter than Earth (btw, how much is Avalon's gravity, in Terran terms?). And I seriously doubt they can fly on Imhotep. AT the very least, Earth's gravity might soon tire Ythrian flyers.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think that they would at least tire on Earth.
The artificial gravity in the Ythrian ship is 0.75 standard.
Avalonian gravity is 80% Terran.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And we see mention of how, on Avalon, it took a long time for Ythrian colonists to adapt and multiply there. Assuming Ythri's gravity was 75 percent Terran, that indicates even a slight increase of 5 percent, which would hardly be even noticed by most humans, caused problems for Ythrians. And that makes me believe Terran gravity would tire many Ythrians pretty quickly.
Ad astra! Sean
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