"The Polesotechnic League became a loose kind of supergovernment, sprawling from Canopus to Deneb, drawing its membership and employees from perhaps a thousand species. It was a horizontal society, cutting across political and cultural boundaries. It set its own policies, made its own treaties, established its own bases, fought its own battles...and for a time, in the course of milking the Milky Way, did more to spread a truly universal civilization and enforce a solid Pax than all the diplomats in known history.
"Nevertheless, it had its troubles." (pp. 77-78)
Observations
(i) We do not really see the "supergovernment" aspect. It is very "loose."
(ii) We see very few of those "thousand species."
(iii) "...for a time..." The theme of the series is that times change. The "troubles" will threaten the "universal civilization" and its "Pax."
(iv) Future histories refer not only to known space but also to "known history."
(v) The attached image, appropriately, shows "gin."
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I fear good times will always be followed by bad times. No merely human institutions can last forever or escape being corrupted or debased. And we are in one of those bad times, alas.
Ad astra! Sean
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