Time As A Burning Bridge

Orbit Unlimited.

Time is a hunter, a burning bridge, an ever-rolling stream, an old gypsy man, money, the great healer and what else? 

An extraordinary consequence of the mid-flight crisis is that Joshua Coffin judges himself to be no longer worthy as a spaceship captain so instead intends to join the Rustum colony. Thus, he will recur as a character later in this volume. Some characters remain on Earth and are never seen again. Others weave in and out of Poul Anderson's narrative of events off Earth.

The difficulty of even arriving on the surface of an extra-solar planet is emphasized by the fact that we are not shown the surface of Rustum until the concluding story of Orbit Unlimited. Fortunately, however, four further stories were added in Roger Elwood's Continuum anthologies. Meanwhile, remember:

"You aren't alone, Joshua, she wanted to call. Time is the bridge that always burns behind us." (p. 70)