Wednesday 8 December 2021

Gods In The Galaxies

Chee Lan at Beta Crucis:

"'What a time to arrive!' she snarled. 'It couldn't be when the planet's decently far off from that bloated fire balloon. Oh, no! That'd be too easy. It'd put the gods to the trouble of finding somebody else to dump their garbage on. We get to go in while the radiation peaks.'"
-Satan's World, XI, p. 436.
 
THE BATTLE OF BRANDOBAR Annotated English version:
 
"(A bugle: the gods defied!)"
-Poul Anderson, After Doomsday (Frogmore, St Albans, Herts, 1975), p. 127.
 
Captain Gorbel of the R.S.S. Indefeasible:
 
"Gods of all stars, how he talked!"
-James Blish, The Seedling Stars (London, 1972), Book Four, p. 182.
 
Mayor John Amalfi and Miramon of the dirigible planet, He, in the Greater Magellanic Cloud:
 
Miramon: "'Surely the gods must have arranged such an accident, which otherwise is impossibly unlikely...'"
Amalfi: "'You were not once such a believer in the gods, as I recall...'"
Miramon: "'Opinions change with age; otherwise what is age for?'"
-James Blish, The Triumph Of Time IN Blish, Cities In Flight (London, 1981), pp. 467-596 AT CHAPTER THREE, p. 504.
 
Maybe if many races have pre-interstellar beliefs in particular pantheons, then a generalized reference to "the gods" will become part of galactic or even inter-galactic communication?

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

With some beings, yes, but not all. We see plenty of characters in the Technic stories, believers or not, who invoke GOD, not the "gods."

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

Many people confuse "unlikely" with "impossible". Unlikely things happen all the time. Someone wins the lottery, someone gets hit by a stapler someone accidentally knocked off a shelf 20 stories up.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

Which is why, once in a while, I will buy a lottery ticket or scratch card, just in case I actually get lucky! (Smiles)

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I have only ever participated in the National Lottery as part of a syndicate at work because I wanted to participate in what they were doing at work and because I didn't want to risk not being included if they did make a big win. We never won anything. One year, we paid in £60 and each received £30 back at Christmas.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Which is why I do such things only RARELY! Because it's so unlikely for us to really win big! (Smiles)

So, I prefer to invest in some stocks and save from my salary.

Ad astra! Sean