"He had a sudden wobbly feeling of revelation, as if someone had rolled back a curtain he hadn't even known was there." (p. 179)
And that is yet another moment of realization in a Poul Anderson story. It is called "...a sudden wobbly feeling of revelation..." but it is a moment of realization.
Nielsen realizes that the titular "Entity" is not an energy-eating life form but an artifact that transforms every form of energy into broadcast power. Thus he and his crew, like Dunham in "Symmetry," return to civilization with a new source of wealth.
Beamed power is developed in "Holmgang" and used in the later story, "What Shall It Profit?"
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
About all I can think of saying about this blog piece is my view that using sunsats for beaming solar energy down to collection and distribution centers on Earth would also be a source of great wealth! A more efficient and cheaper form of energy replacing more costly and less efficient means of using energy like coal and oil.
But that requires us getting SERIOUS about space!
Ad astra! Sean
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