Of course, the most melancholy part of this story is the empty buildings of an intelligent species killed by supernova radiation and the use to which Murdoch proposes to put the planet: to sell it with its ready-made dwellings to human colonists. Respect for the past, for an extinct race and for human knowledge requires that the planet be quarantined for years while it is extensively studied. The Coordination Service stands in the path of crass commercialism.
Supernovae are big in Poul Anderson's future histories:
this race is killed;
the Merseians are saved by Polesotechnic League force fields;
another supernova covers Mirkheim with valuable supermetals.
Anderson tackled an idea from every angle.
Can time travelers "change the past"? Yes, no.
Is faster than light space travel possible? Yes, no.
Are there many other intelligent species in the galaxy? Yes, no.
Can artifacts become conscious? Yes, no.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Except the Stellar Union's Coordination Service's clumsy handling of the passionate desire of many frontier humans to settle really terrestroid planets is going to cause trouble. Balking people from colonizing worlds like Good Luck will breed only frustration and fury. It will very likely provoke open defiance, resistance, rebellion, including wars of independence from the Union. It was almost certainly things like that which contributed to the Dark Age following its downfall.
The Cordies would have been wiser trying for the kind of compromise I suggested in the previous combox. Instead they repeated the mistake made by the British in North America after the Seven Years War.
Ad astra! Sean
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