Joe, the new alien farmhand, who claims to be from the obscure planet Astan IV, asks young Pete questions like how many human beings are there and why do they emigrate? So is Joe a spy? Pete cannot answer the first question because human beings are:
"'...spread over so many worlds.'" (p. 29)
In fact, some settlers come not from Earth but from colonized planets. So this has been going on for a long time. Nerthus is not in the first wave of colonization, less than two centuries after the loss of the Traveler.
Earth is "'...an integrate civilization...'" (ibid.) whereas the colonies are not. Why not? This reminds us of the legacy of the Psychotecnic Institute. In the later story, "The Pirate," a spaceship crew is described as "unintegrate" because its members are:
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Joe reminded me of Rax, the non-human spy for the Roidhunate we see in A CIRCUS OF HELLS.
Ad astra! Sean
I wouldn't call that all that "good". I like human beings as they are, warts and all.
Incidentally, I think that was the point in GENESIS -- that 'perfecting' human beings would essentially abolish them.
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