"It cracked through his head...
"Ronica caught at his arm...
"'Darling Iern, what's wrong? Are you okay?'
"'I - yes -' He struggled for self-command. 'Yes, I just had a, a rather frightful idea.'" (p. 458)
Obviously, a major moment of realization. While Skyholm laser-attacks Orion, Iern realizes that he is able to fly Orion Two down through the atmosphere and ram Skyholm - which he does. Although he does not expect to survive, he manages to bounce the spaceship off dense atmospheric layers around the world, then to climb back into space from where he and Ronica broadcast a message of peace and unity to all mankind.
The concluding sentences of the novel are awesome:
"Wind quickened. A whale surfaced. The ship bore onward, in quest of the Southern Cross."
-CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN, p. 468.
The wind quickens with a new age for mankind. The whale demonstrates that Gaea is safe. The ship quests the Southern Cross: Iern, Ronica and mankind will return to space.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think I can say ORION SHALL RISE was in many ways very satisfying novel, despite some flaws here and there. An example of the latter being lingering traces of the flawed premise for the Maurai stories that metals were rare, difficult to obtain, prohibitively costly.
And I wondered what happened to the Domain in Uropa? Was a new aerostat built? And did the still half barbarian tribes across the Rhine River invade the Domain? One of the functions of Skyholm was to defend against barbarian attacks, after all.
Ad astra! Sean
Incidentally, if the Europeans can build replacement parts for every bit of skyholm, why didn't they build duplicates? That would simplify their geopolitical situation very considerably -- with three or four, they could cover the whole of Europe.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
A good point. I can only suggest that the Captains of Skyholm were content with just what is now France, the west bank of the Rhine, and parts of northern Spain. Yes, it would have been wiser to have built at least one more aerostat by the time ORION opens.
And I do recall from ORION how there WAS some thought of building another aerostat, with the Maurai expressing interest in having one of their own.
Ad astra! Sean
Having a "single-point failure source" of that magnitude is never a good idea.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree. The Domain should have built at least one more aerostat once the means and resources for doing so became available.
Ad astra! Sean
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