The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER TWELVE.
"The bathrobe flapped around [Flandry's] ankles as he strode to the transparency and stood raggedly smoking. Through a light rain and an early dusk, the city flashed hectic, as far as vision could fare. Within this room, the odor of roses and the lilt of a Mozart concerto receded toward infinity." (p. 320)
the feel of the flapping bathrobe;
the taste of tobacco;
hectic flashing in the early dusk;
the odor of roses;
Mozart.
That hectic flashing recalls Anderson's description of New York in Time Patrol. See here.
Miriam joins Dominic at the window:
"She stared outward and upward. Stars were lost in the haze of light from the towers everywhere around..." (p. 321)
Like van Rijn, the Flandrys look out at a city beneath the stars even though, in this case, the latter are invisible.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI also recall how the "nightmare beauty" of Archopolis stunned Miriam Abrams when she first came to the capital of the Empire in A STONE IN HEAVEN.
Ad astra! Sean