More Galactography II

"The screen showed such a multitude of stars, hard and winter-brilliant, that only an astronaut could recognize individuals."

-Poul Anderson, "Hiding Place" IN Anderson, Trader To The Stars (New York, 1966), pp. 7-52 AT p. 7.

So we are lost in space? No. Fortunately, our current viewpoint character is an astronaut. The narrative continues:

"Torrance sought past the Milky Way until he found Polaris. Then Valhalla would lie so-and-so many degrees away, in that direction. Not that he could see a G-type sun at this distance..." (ibid.)

Of course, degrees are not light-years. We have no idea where Valhalla is in space, how far or in which direction from Polaris or from anywhere else. 

All that we are told is that:

Valhalla is the location of the nearest League base to where Torrance is now;

that base is on the Valhallan planet, Freya;

all of this is in an "...almost uncharted section of our galactic arm." (ibid.)

With that single word, "...our...," the omniscient narrator identifies himself as a member of whichever community reads his narrative. But he is not Hloch, Noah Arkwright or any other named narrator of various parts of the Technic History. This is a very complicated collective narrative.