The sixth narrative passage, on pp. 262-263, is about a page and a half in length, is set on 36 Ophiuchi B 2 and is narrated by organic Korene. She and organic Joel marry with the blessing of ship Joel and robot Korene. When the ship moves on, it must leave the organics behind - maybe helped by some auxiliaries?
The planet has cool, springy turf that is neither grass nor moss. This is a recurrent Andersonian theme: terrestroid planets will have a ground cover that will not be identical with grass. This should be shown in any screen adaptations.
The seventh narrative passage, on pp. 263-264, is less than a page in length and is a third person account of a priest denouncing the interstellar project. His Biblical references are the First Commandment, the second great commandment, Babel and the Flood. (The Curse of Babel returns to Earth in CS Lewis' That Hideous Strength.) The priest also refers to Ulysses in Homer and Dante. He expresses concern for "'...the wretched of Earth...'" (p. 264) but will not help them by spreading lies and bigotry about interstellar exploration.
2 comments:
"This is a recurrent Andersonian theme: terrestroid planets will have a ground cover that will not be identical with grass."
Considering that the first grasses show up only about 55 million years ago, it seems grass-like plants are not particularly likely to evolve on any given planet.
Kaor, Paul and Jim!
Paul: I too would disagree with that priest's anti-space views.
Jim: Yes, but Anderson's point was his belief that many terrestroid planets would have some kind of ground cover with FUNCTIONS to our Terran grasses.
It's also reasonable to think some planets colonized by humans will have grasses introduced to them, if that will make them more livable, as was done on Altai in "A Message in Secret."
Ad astra! Sean
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