More From The High Sierra

A Stone in Heaven, XIV, tells us two things about Terra in Dominic Flandry's lifetime. The first is how the High Sierra looks in autumn which presumably is the same as it looks in ours:

comes early;

frosty days;

frozen nights;

its fairest time;

clear air;

smoking breath;

cold breeze;

smell of firs;

darkling trees;

trembling, rustling, golden aspen;

across a canyon, steep, blue rock;

snowy heights;

cloudless sky;

bright sun;

hovering hawk, wings glowing;

soughing forest;

booming wind.

The second thing is that the Imperium controls the media:

the Cairncross conspiracy to rebel and usurp is too embarrassing and dangerous to publicize;

however, it is too big to be covered up;

but it can be extremely underplayed, even made boring to hear about;

more entertaining events can be manufactured.

Flandry refers disparagingly to:

"'...what passes for the public consciousness.'" (p. 185)

He knows that he is living in times that are far from ideal but to what extent does he want to be associated with such manipulations and distortions?