The rogue planet, Satan, recedes from Beta Crucis on its hyperbolic orbit:
a sphere blurred by gas
vaguely shimmering clouds and oceans
lands seen as blacknesses
desolation
raw mountains
gashed valleys
naked stone plains
chill, stagnant seas
unrelieved night
rare lamps
blue phosphorescence
dreary wind-skirl
rushing sterile waters
still-toiling robots, computers and automata
a dragon's hoard of wealth for the first Imperial aristocrat to send down a self-piloting freighter
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
During the anarchy of the Time of Troubles Satan seems to have been abandoned. Legally, after the Empire arose, it was probably classified as abandoned property, which anyone who had the means of doing so could claim.
Ad astra! Sean
And meanwhile the robots had kept working.
Kaor, Paul!
They did! As they were programmed to do.
Ad astra! Sean
Thus producing a tasty morsel.
In TO TURN THE TIDE, I have my protagonist giving a run-down (with maps) of the big silver deposits in Bohemia and adjacent parts of Central Europe and describing their scale.
One of the Roman legates listening unconsciously runs a hand across his mouth and wipes it off on the skirt of his tunic... 8-).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Ha!!! I remember that!
Yes, as the Troubles died down and the new Empire was extending its power I can imagine the then Duke of Hermes realizing what a BONANZA Satan would be if he got there first and was able to claim it before anyone else did.
Ad astra! Sean
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