Can "groundhuggers" join the Kith in Anderson's Starfarers? Rarely and with difficulty.
An Aerien proves that he has what it takes to be a Kith by playing a trick to get himself recruited. Even before his recruitment, this enterprising young man had started to learn Kithic and also Xyrese because of how widely the latter is spoken around the hear stars:
Sol
Tau Ceti
Delta Pavonis
the primaries of Maia and Aurora
others?
"'...Aerie is the furthest of all worlds where humans dwell...'" (17, p. 125)
- because beyond that the travel time becomes too great.
(In James Blish's Jack Loftus novels, "the Heart Stars" means the galactic centre where there is an ancient interstellar hegemony. In Anderson's The Game Of Empire, one passage refers to the heart of the Terran Empire.)
In Chapter 17, two Kith, one of them playing a polymusicon, entertain a Kith audience by jointly relating their recent experience with the young Aerien so there could be different ways to adapt this narrative to screen: leave out the narrators and their audience; stay with them throughout; alternate between the performance and flashbacks to the related events; simplify the complicated narration - Rusa with the musical instrument keeps interrupting the main narrator, Shaun.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Ha, I remember "The Tale of the Cat"! The lad in that story showed an ingenuity worthy of Nicholas van Rijn or Dominic Flandry.
Ad astra! Sean
OTOH, once you -got- to the furthest planet, using that as a base the travel time -wouldn't- be too great for places beyond it.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Yes, but the needed for explorers to resume contact with older colonies and other Kith ships would become longer. Enough so that it discouraged efforts for going beyond Aeri. Also, by the time of "The Tale of the Cat" the effort needed for continuing STL travel seems to have begun flagging, at least partly because of reduced demand for the services provided by the Kith. Due to the colonial planets being self sufficient and engrossed in their own affairs.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: there will always be someone who wants to move.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, but the means needed for traveling/moving might not always be available.
Ad astra! Sean
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