Leaving Merseia, Muddlin' Through is described as "...hurtling through the interstellar night..." (p. 366)
This is the constant backdrop of all interstellar sf.
"Under Amalfi the city soared outward, humming like a bee, into the raw night."
[-James Blish, Earthman, Come Home IN Blish, Cities In Flight (London, 1981), pp. 235-465 AT CHAPTER TWO, p. 285.
"...ahead the galactic night was as black as death."
-James Blish, "This Earth of Hours" IN Robert A. W. Lowndes (Ed.), The Best Of James Blish (New York, 1979), pp. 257-280 AT p. 280.
When I asked here whether the Merseians would be able to enjoy a comedy set during their planetary emergency, I had forgotten the concluding sentence of the story:
"And nothing was funny any longer." (p. 367)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Well, that last sentence you quoted would make sense as the radiation from the Valenderay supernova reached Merseia. And the quarreling Merseian leaders were forced to grapple with more urgent matters than their mutual rivalries. But, as we know, this truce was only temporary and these internal struggles with each other and the Gethfennu would resume once the Valenderay crisis had passed.
Ad astra! Sean
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