"'This city was meant to fly, and by God it ought to be flying still... Maybe for exploration, maybe for work, the kind of work we used to do.'"
-James Blish, The Triumph Of Time IN Blish, Cities In Flight (London, 1981), pp. 466-596 AT CHAPTER ONE, p. 478.
And he has some support from a younger generation:
"'...if the city's really going up again, Mr. Mayor -'
"'Maybe it is. I don't know yet. What of it?'
"'If it is, we want on,' the boy said in a rush."
-ibid., CHAPTER TWO, p. 492.
Like Poul Anderson's Nomads, the difference being that Amalfi's proposed new voyage is indefinitely postponed by the end of the universe. There will be new universes but they are an untold story.
Kevin, whom I have mentioned in connection with our small sf group, tells me that some musicians do not retire but embark on a never-ending tour. This is the destiny of the Nomads:
"The end came, and we embarked on the long voyage, the voyage that has not ceased yet and, I hope, will never end."
-"Gypsy," p. 270.
We remember Nicholas van Rijn:
"'You take the Long Trail with me!... A universe where all roads lead to roaming. Life never fails us. We fail it, unless we reach out.'"
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 1-291 AT XXI, p. 287.
Amalfi, Thorkild and van Rijn...
5 comments:
Song "Northwest Passage"
Original version by Stan Rogers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMRpYtAhGAo
A cover I particularly like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9G4BZlnnA4
Kaor, Paul!
It's a pity we know nothing about that last long and great voyage of interstellar exploration planned by Nicholas van Rijn. If I had to guess that voyage began somewhere between five and ten years after MIRKHEIM.
For reasons of safety, I would guess Old Nick outfitted three large ships, fully equipped with everything he, his friends, and the crews would need or fancy for a journey lasting for years.
I can easily imagine Old Nick's personal Grand Survey going at least 3000 or 5000 light years from Earth.
Ad astra! Sean
Jim: Or "Orinoco Flow" by Enya, one of my favorites:
Sail away, sail away, sail away..
From Bissau to Palau, in the shade of Avalon
From Fiji to Tyree and the Isles of Ebony
From Peru to Cebu, hear the power of Babylon
From Bali to Cali, far beneath the Coral Sea
Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, up, adieu,
Sail away, sail away, sail away
From the North to the South, Ebudæ unto Khartoum
From the deep Sea of Clouds to the Island of the Moon
Carry me on the waves to the lands I've never been
Carry me on the waves to the lands I've never seen
We can sail, we can sail with the Orinoco Flow
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
We can steer, we can near
With Rob Dickins at the wheel
We can sigh, say goodbye Ross and his dependency
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
We can reach, we can beach
On the shores of Tripoli
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
From Bali to Cali, far beneath the Coral Sea
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
From Bissau to Palau, in the shade of Avalon
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
We can reach, we can beach
Far beyond the Yellow Sea
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
From Peru to Cebu, hear the power of Babylon
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
We can sail, we can sail
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
I'm trying to remember if "Sail Away" was mentioned in the 'Nantucket Series'.
It's certainly appropriate for the crew of the Eagle.
Jim: I think it's there somewhere. Or if not, it should have been!
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