The undying voyage began three hundred years ago in "Gypsy." Then, Thorkild Erling was Captain of the Traveler. Now Traveler Thorkild Helmuth, only second in line of descent from Erling, is the elderly hereditary President of the Captains' Council which meets around a table in the Captains' Hall on Rendezvous.
The original spirit seems to have been lost. This is an exchange between two captains, Peregrine Joachim Henry and Vagabond MacTeague Laurie, with the latter speaking first:
"'Why go on a Jump when you've got all the trade you could want right in your own territory?'
"'I suppose your crew agrees with you?'
"'Well, most of them. We've got some, of course that keep hollering for "new horizons." but so far they've been voted down.'" (pp. 5-6)
But "new horizons" were the original point. When a ship becomes overcrowded, all the Nomads help some younger crew members to build a new ship. It seems to me that the "new horizons" factions from several ships would want their own ship.
The slower than light interstellar spaceship hijacked by the Howard Families in Robert Heinlein's Future History is called the New Frontiers.
The Stellar Union has a Scorpian march and is expanding toward Galactic centre at its Sagittarian frontier. Maybe that gives some hint about the size and shape of the Union?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
That mention of how the more restless crew members of the "Vagabond" were repeatedly voted down makes me wonder if many people in the older ships were becoming unwilling to help build new Nomad ships. I see signs of stress, strain, discontent!
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment