The Commons are confined to roof-covered corridors on the lowest level of the city, physically a different world.
"The disorderly mass reminded [Langley] of cities he had seen in Asia." (p. 63)
This is another of the kinds of scenes that Poul Anderson likes to describe: vibrant street life with poverty, crime, commerce and some casual violence but also much liveliness. I will not on this occasion list all the kinds of people in the corridors but they are to be found on p. 63. They include a vendor:
"...crying his wares in a singsong older than civilization." (ibid.)
That links the future city back to Anderson's works set in ancient times - as does the wealthy man whose servants clear his way. One of Anderson's time travellers, Jack Havig, described the past as Asiatic.
Chanthavar takes his guests to some kind of virtual reality, not fully explained, where two of them are violently kidnapped: an Andersonian action scene. And that is a sufficient change of tone for me to revert to other rereading at this time of the evening.
Starward!
2 comments:
That general street-scene 'vibe' is the product of an 'informal economy', or, to put it another way, 'everyone scrambling'.
Those scenes are reminiscent of the Flandry novel set on Unan Besar, and for the same reason.
I lived in (or near) that sort of life in Africa in my teens. It can be entertaining in a touristic sense, but I wouldn't want to live it.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
We are shown far less desperate examples of "scrambling" in others of the Flandry stories, such as the old quarter of Olga's Landing in Chapter 1 of THE GAME OF EMPIRE. Presumably, after adapting to Imhotep's higher gravity, we both might find that more palatable.
Ad astra! Sean
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