Flandry explains to Kit:
"'...the human engineers are very probably still on the job. Humanity always continues as much in the old patterns as possible, people report to their usual work, hell may open but the city will keep every lawn mowed...'" (p. 261)
Again (see Creatures Of Satan?), Poul Anderson's Technic History echoes part of James Blish's After Such Knowledge Trilogy. In The Day After Judgment, Hell has literally opened to unleash Armageddon which, apparently, the demons have won. Despite this, Baines, who had commissioned the "Last Conjuration," sends his personal assistant, Ginsberg, to their rooms to pack in case there is any chance to get away before the Goat returns for them! When Ginsberg finds the succubus in his room, he reflects that:
"...[he] had better sense than to pursue his hobby on company time."
-James Blish, The Day After Judgment IN Blish, After Such Knowledge (London, 1991), pp. 427-522 AT pp. 436-437.
Company time after Armageddon! When Ginsberg tells the succubus that he thought that she would be off raising hell with her fellow demons, she replies that she is "'...not of any of the Orders which make war...'" (p. 437) For her also, business as usual.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And this is the only time in the Technic stories that we see mention that one of the municipal services was every lawn getting mowed! Lawn mowing technology would need to be very advanced to be cheap enough for a city to handle via municipal taxes.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Or maybe it just means every City-owned lawn?
In Blish's CITIES IN FLIGHT, the motto of New York City is "Mow Your Lawn, Lady?"
You have caught up with the posts but I am not going to add any more tonight.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Flandry's comment about the city doggedly mowing your lawn even in the midst of disaster was one of those small, but intriguing details which stuck with me!
Yes, it might be more plausible to think of Garth mowing city owned land and parks rather than the lawns of every private person who had one.
I try to think of something to comment about in your blog pieces! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
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