The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume IV, Young Flandry
A change for the reader because this volume is not a collection of stories but a trilogy of novels.
Change for an individual because Dominic Flandry is promoted from Ensign to Lieutenant to Commander.
Change for the Empire because benign Georgios is succeeded by vile Josip. This will have even direr consequences in Volume VI when Josip dies without an heir.
The biggest change feared by Flandry and others is the "Long Night" that will follow the Fall of the Empire but that will not happen until well into Volume VII. And how far we have come since the beginning of Volume I!
24 comments:
It's mentioned in one of the later books that the Terran Empire can clone human beings without difficulty.
With cloning and either artificial wombs (under development) or surrogate mothers (common now) there's no reason any monarch shouldn't have an heir.
I'm back from SF WorldCon in Chengdu, China, btw.
China? Nice to have you back.
Chengdu was fun, the con was good... getting there and getting back, not much fun.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Welcome back! I'm glad you had a good time at that Chinese convention at Chengdu (Pinyin? Blech!!!) I hope you have lots of fans in China. Are your books being translated into Chinese? Did you meet any Chinese fans of Anderson?
Long plane flights are a real drag! Sub-orbital rocket planes cutting even the longest flights to, say, two or three hours, is the way to go.
As you might recall me writing I first came across the concept of cloning, not the word, in ENSIGN FLANDRY (1966) way back in 1971. I thin it's fair to argue it took time for SF writers to grasp all the implications and possibilities of cloning, such as childless monarchs getting an heir via cloning. Thus it was only in A STONE IN HEAVEN (1979) that Anderson has Edwin Cairncross deciding he would get cloned after seizing the Imperial throne.
I know animals have been successfully cloned, but no one has admitted to cloning human beings. As yet!
Ad astra! Sean
Not many American or European fans can have attended?
I expect that Josip was perverse enough to refuse to be cloned.
Paul: a hundred or so total, I think. The Chinese visa process is unbelievably bureaucratic, to the point of lunacy. Listing all your father's occupations, for example!
OTOH, the convention was very generous with the ones who did make it; I had my airfare, hotel (very nice hotel) and meals paid for. I ended up donating most of the Chinese cash I took with me to an animal-rescue charity.
Josip: he could probably have been cloned without his permission/knowledge. All you need is a cell.
Sean: Yes, I'd have taken the proposed point-to-point Starship like a shot.
And if you can clone one mammal, you can clone any mammal. The mechanism is the same.
My books haven't been translated into Chinese... yet. Some promising deals were made, though.
Josip: a cell could have been acquired and cloned but what then? Someone raises and prepares an heir in secret? Not easy.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: Interesting thought, having say, a member of the Policy Board obtaining a few cells from Josip to clone an heir. Questions still arises, such as the legal status of the resulting child. Wouldn't the Emperor first need to publicly acknowledge the child as his clone? And, possibly adopt him as his son? Some kind of procedure would be needed to make it binding, unchallengeable by the next heir in the line of succession.
I do understand, what you said about human/animal cloning. But people get very "antsy" when it comes to cloning humans. Many nations have prohibited human cloning.
I hope those deals about your books being pub. in China succeeds! I hope sub-orbital rocket planes becomes practical and affordable soon.
Paul: I agree, Josip was irresponsible enough not to care about providing for the succession, either by the normal way or via cloning. I also agree a secret clone of Josip would be difficult to keep secret or have accepted as an undisputed successor.
Ad astra! Sean
See the stories of Lois M. Bujold for intelligent treatment of the beneficial & malign uses of such biotechnology as cloning, artificial wombs & genetic engineering.
The problem with air travel is that you are spending *hours* in a *small* space.
Cutting the travel time by using rocket planes reduces the hours to under one hour.
The other option is making the available space bigger. The one time I took an overnight trip in a sleeper car on a train I found it quite pleasant. I would think if the train trip is no more than about 16 hours it would be fine. I'm thinking, get on the train at 5 pm in one city, have a leisurely dinner in the dining car, sit up in bed & then sleep for about 8 hours, have breakfast in the dinning car, then leave the train in the destination city at about 9 am.
The train option has the additional advantage of not needing fossil fuels. It can all be done with nuclear generated electricity & wires over the train tracks.
Paul: I would imagine that Josip did not pay close attention to the details of government...
Those Baen covers are ... not great.
DS: granted. Though they've improved recently.
Kaor, Jim, Mr. Stirling, and Dave!
Jim: Problem is, humans are impatient! If I can go to Honolulu from Boston in two hours via a rocket plane instead of crawling across the US and the Pacific Ocean to the same place in 15 hours using a regular plane, I'll take the suborbital rocket plane.
Railroads are best used for shipping bulk goods.
Mr. Stirling: I'll say! On his good days Josip would let himself be guided by the better men on the Policy Board.
Dave: Sometimes I'm tempted to think some enemy of Anderson at Baen Books chose those ghastly covers for the TECHNIC SAGA books!
Ad astra! Sean
Railroads also aren't very good for crossing oceans ;)
Over land there is a crossover point in distance where air travel becomes more convenient than rail. Lots of people are happy to take high speed rail within Europe rather than fly. Even the total time can be less by rail if you count the time to get from city to airport & airport to city. Given sleeper cars I would only count the awake time against going by train.
There was an Italian veteran who had a small pension but an unlimited pass on national trains. He spent his days in parks and cafes. At night, he would get on a sleeper train, sleep there, then, the following morning, arrive in some other town or city and spend another day in parks and cafes.
Kaor, Jim!
Well, freighters and container ships are what's used for shipping bulk goods by sea! (Smiles)
I concede railroads have their place for people who want to use them. But people in the US want their cars. Light railroads are simply not popular down here.
Ad astra! Sean
And God, but that cover was awful.
Sean: that's largely because passenger railroads in the US are awful compared to, say, Japan or Europe.
If we had clean comfortable railways doing 200mph, more people would use them for trips of under 300 miles. I certainly would; I don't like driving and prefer to be able to read on journeys.
Rocket ships will probably be no more comfortable than long-range air travel today, but they'll be -faster-, which cuts down the 'lost time'.
If I had a choice, I'd have gone to Chengdu by a nice comfortable airship with a lounge and a bedroom. I could have worked on the way there and back. Two hours in a rocket I can take. 20 in economy, not so much.
"Driving" in the sense we use the word is on the verge of extinction.
Autopilot cars are coming -- not as fast as Elon thought, but they are. Robotaxis are already in commercial operation in a few cities, and there will be more soon as they improve.
My ideal way to travel would be fast trains for under 300 miles, airplanes for 300-1000 miles, and rockets for over that.
With a robotaxi at the other end.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Actually, I agree with you. I can see passenger railroads having a useful role for journeys over, say, thirty miles.
And I would love self driving cars once all the bugs are worked out.
Ditto, what you said about rocket planes and auto taxis. And regular planes for trips lasting about 300 - 1500 miles.
Ad astra! Sean
S.M. "DS: granted. Though they've improved recently."
Not a very high bar, though, is it? ;)
Yet another data point to demonstrate that Sturgeon's Law holds true when it comes to SF covers, as well as SF generally, I think.
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