This is a psychological story. It is not explicitly stated but should be obvious to any attentive reader that Thorkild Erling's wife, Alanna, is happy on Harbor and does not want to resume spacefaring but nevertheless proposes this and pretends to want it because she knows that it is what her husband and several others want. I meant to quote some passages that clearly demonstrate that this is the case but it would have meant copying out large chunks of the text. Just read or reread the story!
The Traveler had been launched toward Alpha Centauri soon after the invention of the hyperdrive but the ship went off course and became lost in interstellar vastness. How does Thorkild know that there are other "...races..." (p. 32) in the Galaxy?
Three ways:
the fifth planet in the same system as Harbor is inhabited;
in Spacecamp Cove on Harbor, there are traces of non-human visitors who had hyperdrive;
the Traveler visited many inhabited planets during its twenty plus years searching for Earth.
These proto-Nomads know what kind of Galaxy they inhabit.
1 comment:
"Gypsy" is an evocative story, showing both the restlessness and boredom of Erling Thorkild with Harbor and how his wife Alanna, by contrast, was happy there. There's always going to be "some" strain and tension between those who long to go adventuring/exploring and others who want to stay at home.
Ad astra! Sean
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