Hugh Valland is the dying Enver Smeth's closest approximation to both a doctor and a chaplain, asking his permission to remove his suit to see if he can be helped. When Smeth complains about the unfairness of his thirty years as against Valland's three thousand, Valland softly tells him to shut up and reminds him that he is a man.
At Smeth's request, Valland sings the song about Mary O'Meara. Again, we should notice that Mary is not active in the song. This stanza ends:
"And whisper your name where you lie." (V, p. 34)
Where she lies... She is dead and buried. And Smeth dies as this line is sung. Valland has helped Smeth to die as well as he can.
Later, Valland will show the inhabitants of this planet that their God is present even when not seen. Valland's survival skills overcome every obstacle, all to get him back home to Mary O'Meara.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Aha! That line "And whisper your name where you lie" should have alerted me in previous readings of the story that something very odd was going on about Mary O'Meara.
Anderson liked mysteries and wrote some of his own, in and out of the SF field. And the techniques, methods, and tropes of a well done mystery shows up in many of his stories, as in the line quoted from "Mary O'Meara."
Ad astra! Sean
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