On Nike

"A Tragedy of Errors."

Before disembarking from Firedrake:

"High overhead [Dagny] descried the gleam of..." (p. 480)

Yet another hovering bird of prey?

"...a wheeling delta wing." (ibid.)

The same sort of thing, we suppose. The text continues:

"The forest roared with wind." (ibid.)

We are sensitized to textual references to wind, expecting metaphor, pathetic fallacy or oblique commentary on the action. For once, I think that this is just a description of the physical environment. In fact, two pages later:

"Here the wind had gentled, and the clouds were dissipating fast. (Odd to have such small cells of weather, she thought in a detached logical part of herself. Another indication of an atmosphere disturbed by violent solar conditions?)" (p. 482)

Indeed. Inability to forecast their turbulently changing weather conditions handicaps the Nikeans and the new arrivals will be able to help when the language problems have been straightened out. Human cooperation is a marvelous thing when human conflicts have been resolved.