Tuesday 22 October 2024

On Ganymede

"The Snows of Ganymede," VII-VIII.

Snow on the ground is ammonia crystals. Shadows are hard and sharp. Amber Jupiter light sparkles on solid ammonia fields, flashes off ice glaciers and drowns out any stars in that part of the sky. When Jupiter is full, it allows full colour vision. Walking is a long glide. Thin air makes objects seem close but the near horizon makes them seem far. Spacesuit failure causes choking, exploding or rapid freezing. Most of the city, seen in earlier chapters, is underground. Outlaws live behind airlocks in natural caves and tunnels, lit, heated and ventilated, and range far because they cache oxygen bottles.

The information in the text is succinct but conveys a sense of what it must be like to be there.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I hope we someday have real colonies on Ganymede!

Ad astra! Sean

Jim Baerg said...

"When Jupiter is full, it allows full colour vision."
I recall XC skiing with a full moon. That was just on the edge of allowing color vision. An object that reflected *lots* of eg: red light, I perceived as red, while something that reflected red, but less, I perceived as another shade of grey.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Jim!

Very nice, I agree. Sometimes, on very clear nights, when the Moon is full, it can be very light here, even in often cloudy Massachusetts.

Ad astra! Sean