Vixenite Henry Kittredge, hidden in a Falkayn hunting lodge in the Hermetian wilderness, has never dared to wander far into the forest first because he might get lost and secondly because he could:
"'...come to grief in a hundred unpredictable ways. This planet is too unlike mine.'" (p. 226)
Chee Lan responds that Vixen has a humanly habitable hemisphere with woodlands. That is hardly the point. Kittredge replies:
"'But not like these, except in superficial appearance...Hell, you know that, as many worlds as you've seen.'" (ibid.)
Exactly. But human beings often make argumentative points without having thought them through and Chee Lan might be even more likely to. This strikes me as entirely plausible dialogue.
Hermes, Vixen, Cynthia etc must all look different from Earth and from each other in films. Stock shots of Terrestrial forests will not suffice.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
That was careless and unthinking of Chee Lan! Heck, even Earth, our Terra, is plenty dangerous in many, many places if people who venture into them are not careful.
Ad astra! Sean
Yes. Learn something about the hazards of the area you are visiting.
Here is a story from a friend of mine who is into serious mountaineering:
He and a few companions were hiking up the Athabasca glacier to the Columbia Icefield to then climb a mountain on the edge of the icefield. As they went up they were passed by a couple of guys with no equipment for glacier travel. Later as they got to the top of the glacier they saw one of the guys standing alone and waving his arms. When they reached him they found that his companion had fallen down a crevasse. BTW the two guys were tourists from Germany with little English, but one of my friend's companions was an immigrant from Germany & so was able to get the details. So my friends mountaineering party got out their ropes & pulled the guy out of the crevasse and sent them both walking down the glacier. If there hadn't been a party of people with the equipment & knowledge for the area going by, that guy down the crevasse probably would have died.
Kaor, Jim!
Exactly, a great example of the need for caution, foresight, and planning.
Ad astra! Sean
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