Sidetracked into rereading part of Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History, we will of course return in a while to where we were before.
Returning to the colonized planet, Harbor, the first person narrator glimpses the orbiting interstellar spaceship, the Traveler, whose metal hull, still enclosing air and energy, resembles a toy against its spatial background. When he reflects that humming, whirring, clicking machines still maintain a habitable environment within the Traveler, the viewpoint character imagines that the ship herself is alive and even lonely. This elegiac introduction sets the tone for the story that follows.
Harbor shines blue, an appropriately named haven whose sky is a roof against naked space. The story combines contentment - Harbor is beautiful - with nostalgia - the years of wandering in the Traveler had been good. Nostalgia wins, hence the title of the story and the birth of the Nomads who, later in this future history series, will carry seeds of knowledge through the Third Dark Ages. A pivotal story.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The problem I have with the Nomads of the Psychotechnic timeline is that I seen no practical need or basis for clans of interstellar gypsies after a FTL drive was invented. I don't think it would PAY for ships like the "Traveler" to become the seed of the Nomads.
I found the Kith of STARFARERS and the Kith stories much more plausible, because of how STL is the means used for interstellar travel. Considering how much time it took to travel between the stars by STL, I can see a new people and culture based on STL ships arising. And the economics of how this can work was also plausible.
New readers: the Kith can be found in STARFARERS, "Ghetto" (revised and incorporated into the novel), "The Horn of Time the Hunter," and "The Tale of the Cat" (also made part of STARFARERS).
Ad astra! Sean
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