Dialogue between two Nomad captains, Peregrine Joachim Henry and Vagabond MacTeague Laurie.
Joachim: "'Canopus is still free territory; no ship has a claim on it yet.'"
MacTeague: "'Why go on a Jump when you've got all the trade you could want right in your own territory?'"
Joachim: "'I suppose your crew agrees with you?'"
MacTeague: "'Well, most of them. We've got some, of course, that keep hollering for "new horizons," but so far they've been voted down.'" (pp. 5-6)
The first Nomad ship, the Traveler, had travelled not around a known trade route but outward into the unknown. Something has been lost or at least has changed. In CHAPTER XI, Trevelyan senses disappointment in the first captain's later writings. That captain, a Thorkild, had narrated "Gypsy." Following Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson well knew how to construct a future history series.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Not surprised by Thorkild Erling's disappointment. Given what the real world and real humans are like, soaring ideals are never going to be wholly achieved. The best we can hope for are partial approximations, sometimes.
Ad astra! Sean
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