Skip and Yvonne, now monopolizing the Stigman's spaceship, will not give it to their government, will recruit a Byworlder crew, will allow some scientists on board and will tour the Solar System and maybe other planetary systems. Meanwhile, changes will happen on Earth. But neither Skip nor any government armed by him will have hegemony because, as Yvonne says:
"'...we have the wisdom to see that nobody has the wisdom to tell the whole world what it must do.'" (XVI, p. 159)
(This is the conclusion reached in James Blish's The Quincunx of Time.)
We do not need a sequel to show us what happens next. There are many accounts of interstellar exploration in other works by Anderson. Interstellar travel is the ultimate symbol of freedom in American sf. It can remain a symbol until the time is right. There is plenty of elbow room in the Solar System and, for the bulk of humanity, even on Earth - when we have learned how to live here properly. Any aliens who can give advise might be better advised to offer it by radio instead of in person. The attached book cover image presents one possible human response.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And that's the way it will most likely start: with exploration and settling of different parts of the Solar System. Hopefully, with Elon Musk founding his Mars colony within a few years.
IIRC, either Skip or Yvonne expected scientists back on Earth to soon reproduce Sigman technology. Simply knowing something is possible would allow scientists in the US and China to figure out how to make Sigman style ships.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think a Mars colony in a few years is a fantasy but let's see it.
Paul.
Yup. Discovering something previously unknown is hard. Duplicating something visibly working is much less hard.
Though not necessarily easy. Note that nobody has been able to duplicate the Falcon 9 reusable first stage yet -- which is why it's pushing 90% of the global mass to orbit this year.
Skip and Yvonne say that Terrestrials will build a ramjet now that they know it can be done.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I suggest paying some attention to what Musk and SpaceX has been doing. And reading Robert Zubrin's books: THE CASE FOR MARS and THE CASE FOR SPACE. Musk's work has tremendously advanced space technology.
Mr. Stirling: Absolutely, what you said about "reproducing" what has been found to be possible. Musk's policy at SpaceX has not been to slowly tinker and tinker decade after decade till everything works right the first time. Rather, he tries something new and tests it to destruction, to see what works or does not. Much faster than NASA's approach!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Sure, I can read up on it but, if there is to be a colony on Mars in the next few years, then I will see it anyway.
Paul.
Sean: yeah, but NASA is under constraints that Musk isn't -- SpaceX is his creation and he can govern it more or less as he pleases.
Congress and the public would have forced an abandonment of Falcon 9 after the first one or two explosions... and there were plenty.
SpaceX did a 'blooper reel' of exploding rockets!
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: But it's better to think ahead in an informed way. I would also recommend THE SPACE BARONS, because of how much it says about Musk's work.
Mr. Stirling: I agree! As a privately held, single owner company, SpaceX and Musk doesn't need to be as obsessively covering with covering their rear ends as NASA. All gov't agencies seem to inevitably succumb to that!
Ad astra! Sean
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