Liaw of the Tarns makes a speech that begins:
"'We are met in the Great Khruath of Avalon, that free folk may choose their way.'" (p. 560)
- and ends:
"'What say the choths?'" (p. 561)
That concluding phrase reminded me of a passage in a juvenile novel by James Blish. "Angels" are star-dwelling energy beings. Two younger Angels, Hesperus and Lucifer, urge the oldest, the First Born, to end their alliance with the stable (static and dictatorial) confederation at galactic center and instead to form a new alliance with the emerging federation of Earthlings, dolphins etc. Hesperus makes his request:
"'...in worship of the First Cause...'"
-James Blish, Mission To The Heart Stars (London, 1980), CHAPTER ELEVEN, p. 126.
The First Born respond:
"THE FIRST BORN: Worship has been invoked. Therefore, we may not rule. Our brothers everywhere in light, what say you to this?
"THE STAR DWELLERS: Yes!"
-Blish, op. cit., p. 127.
In both cases, an entire population is asked to decide and does.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
"Energy" beings capable of living on stars? We see Anderson using that idea in "Kyrie." And of how, necessarily, such beings could communicate with one another only by telepathy.
Ad astra! Sean
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