Fenn feels that any species, system etc reaches its limits or dead end and then becomes a dead weight. When he tells Kinna this:
"She sat quiet for a span. The wind-noise fluttered in his sonics." (p. 142)
Yet again, something significant is said, the characters need time to think and, while they do, the wind seems to have its say. Fluttering suggests uncertainty and indecision which fit the context..
I have come to imagine that Anderson's omnipresent wind is a deity overseeing the events in his novels. Vayu would be a worthy candidate.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Anderson could write grim stories as well as hopeful ones. Examples of the former I've thought being "Murphy's Hall" and "In Memoriam." The first story shows us mankind reaching self inflicted dead ends thru persistently making the wrong decisions. "In Memoriam" shows us an intelligent, oceanic species evolved from octopuses reaching its dead end and becoming extinct because of being unable to escape the limitation imposed on it by living in the seas.
Other stories, like "The High Ones" comes to mind. An all powerful, centralized totalitarian regime abolished the need for the Zolotoyans to even be intelligent!
Ad astra! Sean
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