A boat from the Asieneuve crash lands on Dido. O'Brien has died. He is laid in a grave without a coffin, water oozing up, the Imperial flag over him. Kathryn asks the captain to read the service and hands him the prayer book. His men watch him. Flandry reflects that he never believed, then stains the page as he reads "...aloud the majestic words." (p. 444)
But what words? I think of the British naval service: "...when the sea shall give up her dead..."
Elsewhere in the Technic History:
"'-Father, unto You in what form he did dream You, we commit this being our comrade; and we pray that You grant him rest, even as we pray for ourselves. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.'"
-Poul Anderson, The People of the Wind IN Anderson (Riverdale, NY, March 2011), pp. 437-662 AT IX, p. 543.
On another occasion when invocation of divinity is considered appropriate:
"'Stand by. The Divine, in whatever form It manifests Itself to you, the Divine is with us.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Game of Empire IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 189-453 AT CHAPTER FIVE, p. 261.
Plurality.
16 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
That line you quoted from the Royal Navy's burial service made me wonder if a similar line from the Terrestrial Navy's service would be like this: "...when space and the stars shall give up their dead."
Now I wonder, should a filmed version of THE REBEL WORLDS have us hearing Flandry reading the burial service or not? Perhaps incorporating the texts you quoted?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
It is legitimate to go beyond what the text says but, of course, not to make a travesty of it.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree!!!
Ad astra! Sean
FWIW, the USN (and USCG) continue to have a burial at sea ceremonies as part of their regulations; since WW II, in fact, the services have conducted such, for both veterans, and, if necessary, of KIA during periods of conflict.
There was some discussion during the Apollo XIII mission that if the crew did not make it back safely and the spacecraft remained outside of the atmosphere, the derelict would have been regarded essentially as a gravesite and a modified burial at sea service would have been conducted, remotely.
Given the realities of expanding HSF, especially in an era where individuals with more money than sense apparently will not be prevented from attempting to reach Earth orbit, presumably the need will arise in the future - probably sooner than later, actually.
Kaor, Dave!
That makes sense to me. And I think future space navies will have burial services written to fit conditions off Earth and/or in space.
And it's precisely because of "reckless" adventurers and entrepreneurs like Elon Musk that the human race might finally get off this rock!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean - The truth of your second sentence remains to be seen, of course ... as does the importance of the stated goal. ;)
The reality is, as demonstrated by the careers of Georges Houot, Jacques Piccard, and Don Walsh (for example), as opposed to that of Stockton Rush, that the "non-reckless" get better results - generally, without killing the passengers.
It is also worth noting that individuals like Rush get it trouble, it's always organizations like the USCG (or the RNSLI, or CCG, etc.) whose personnel are the ones who try and dig them out of it ...
And in terms of industrialists, may want to look at the career of Bill Allen, as opposed to that of Howard Hughes.
Or, that of PT Barnum. ;)
Kaor, Dave!
I am willing to concede what you said will be true in many cases--but not all. Musk still shook up space efforts long stagnant and mired in timidity and bureaucratic sclerosis.
Ad astra! Sean
Yup. Musk singlehandedly made reusable launch vehicles a fact, and it would simply -not have happened- in this century if he hadn't.
The other organizations were too committed to their existing approach.
SpaceX is now launching over 80% of total planetary mass to orbit at costs nobody would have believed a few years ago.
Starship will bring it down to air-freight levels. All due to one man's determination.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolute agreement! What Musk has done at SpaceX has been truly revolutionary, in a rare case of the positive use of that word. I consider his efforts at SpaceX vastly more important, necessary, than Twitter/X or Tesla!
I hope Starship is soon used for sending manned expeditions to Mars!
Ad astra! Sean
Nope, the USG made SpaceX what it is - along with Tom Mueller and Chris Thompson; and it is worth checking where Mueller, for example, learned his trade, so to speak.;)
No USG contracts, SpaceX would have gone bust years ago. There's no market for their products, otherwise.
In 2011, Musk claimed publicly there would be a HSF landing on Mars in 10 years (WSJ and Marketwatch); still waiting for that one, aren't we?
Kaor, Dave!
Disagree. The reusable spacecraft SpaceX has been building are vastly better than the ruinously costly, clumsy dead end that was the Shuttle.
It's also my hope the private sector will step and start really profitable use of the new tech SpaceX has been developing.
Ad astra! Sean
DS: no, buying what someone sells is not a "subsidy".
Furthermore, the bulk of SpaceX launches are non-governmental; launching commercial satellites is
The real comparison is NASA's grotesque SLS boondoggle and SpaceX's launch systems.
Again, over 80% of total global mass to orbit... after the US government tried, and outright failed, to develop reliable and affordable launch systems.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolutely! And I hope the next step soon happens: manned expeditions to the Moon and Mars.
Ad astra for real! Sean
Sean: it probably will. SpaceX (and Elon) always predict a bit early, but that's part of the strategy -- push/push/push, do it fast, fix it later.
For me, it's still: I'll believe it when I see it.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: My understanding of Musk's strategy is not to wait till everything works perfectly, but to build a model and test it to destruction, find out what goes wrong and correct it for the next model, till you get a ship that does what you want it to do. Further improvements can be added later!
Paul: A fair attitude, but because of entrepreneurs like Musk real progress in getting off this rock is finally being made!
Ad astra! Sean
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