We get used to reading some sf cliches without reflecting on their implications. Here, I summarized some futuristic scenery but omitted one detail:
"...the white streak of an old highway crossed the field..." (I, p. 22)
Why is the highway "old"? Is it no longer in use? The cliche comes in IV, p. 36, when Naysmith goes to a "parking lot," enters his "boat," then:
"The ovoid shell slipped skyward on murmuring jets."
Despite being called a boat, the vehicle is an all too familiar sf aircar. In fact, the opening sentence had told us:
"They were gone, their boat whispering into the sky..." (I, p. 21)
- but we probably do not notice technical details when just beginning to read a new sf narrative. Later, Naysmith:
"...opened all jets and screamed at his habitual speed low above the crumbling highway." (VI, p. 44)
Of course highways are "old" and "crumbling" when private vehicles fly!
Another consequence is that multi-storey buildings have landing "flanges" (V, p.38), as we have seen in the Dominic Flandry series and in other works by Anderson. Such practical details become so familiar that we do not reflect on them. Naysmith's boat needs an autopilot to negotiate the heavy traffic around a large building. Civilization has not only recovered from World War III but surpassed its post-World War II technological level. In fact, it is also well established on the Moon and Mars.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I only WISH our civilization, which did not have to survive a WW III, had established itself firmly on the Moon and Mars! And we see in other stories preferring to call the flying private vehicles discussed here "air cars" instead of "boats." I think the former term better than the latter. But "UN-Man" was an early story by Anderson, written at a time when he was still learning, in many ways, how to write.
Ad astra! Sean
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