When the four men come together in The Southern Cross, Nakamura is the viewpoint character:
"He felt the banality of his words." (p. 42)
The others are described as he sees them. Ryerson seems to need a chance to calm down. Maclaren lounges in free fall and wrinkles "...his patrician nose." (p. 41) Sverdlov looks sullen.
Nakamura: pilot/captain
Maclaren: astrophysicist/chief scientist
Ryerson: gravitics man, assisting Maclaren
Sverdlov: engineer
If the pilot dies or is disabled, then the engineer takes command and must return home. We already know of reasons for tension between three of these men, to say the least. Nakamura sounds like a good guy to have in charge. The pilot takes the ship where the chief scientist wants him to but makes his own judgements about safety.
Man and universe are all set to interact.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
IIRC, Maclaren was the only one of these four men who truly wanted to be on "The Southern Cross," due to being genuinely keen on studying the black star. All the others were either unwilling or had mixed motives for being there.
Ad astra! Sean
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