Kormt refuses to leave Earth with everyone else because:
"'I'm too old to change my ways...'" (p. 206)
To leave Earth would be to change his ways. However, to live entirely alone will also be to change his ways - even more so. To resist change is to change.
Is anyone ever too old to change? Some changes are of necessity. Kormt might have been coerced but that is regarded as wrong and indeed he is not being left to starve so the choice can be left to him. We gather that he winds up regretting his decision so that the story ends unpleasantly although the rest of the narrative is positive. Human beings and Hulduvians coexist amicably and the former have a great Galactic civilization. "Humankind's saga flows on." (p. 216)
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
However unpleasant, the possibility of Kormt having second thoughts about his choice was a realistic touch by Anderson.
And it could have been agreed by Hulduvians and Galactics that ONE planet could have been retained by the humans on the periphery of the galaxy, Earth. Out of so many planets and such a vast sweep of space, that should not have been too much!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Even to visit a single planet in the periphery would have involved human manipulation of cosmic energies that would have interfered with Hulduvian manipulation but I like to think that, in a further future, this problem would be overcome.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, if both parties were able and willing to come to an agreement.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But the technical problem of the interfering wavelengths or whatever they are would have to be solved.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, that would come under the "able" part.
Ad astra! Sean
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