"Sunjammer," like "Que Donn'rez Vous?" before it, is a highly technical story. The single sf premise, apart from the gyrogravitics which are basic to the entire series, is isonitrate.
Several characters race against time to prevent a disaster. By now, we know in advance that it is only a matter of time before one of these characters has an Andersonian moment of realization and devises a quicker and more economical solution. Sure enough, Golescu stops speaking in mid-sentence:
"Golescu's words cut off. He stared before him, into the icy light of Jupiter, until its after-image danced through his vision.
"All the stars danced.
"'What's eating you now?' Storrs growled." (p. 212)
Something like that had to happen. We have learned to expect it. But we still have to wait to be told what the more practicable solution is. For some details on that, follow the "isonitrate" link above.
I also am racing against time here. Laterz.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
One minor detail about "Sunjammer" which has stuck with me is how one of the herdships mentioned in that story was named "Gandalf." Practically all SF/F fans would immediately recall that's the name of a major character from THE HOBBIT and LOTR!
Anderson loved those stories and one regret I have is how seldom we see Tolkienian allusions in his works. So, I've long appreciated this one, possibly the only one to be found in his hard SF.
Ad astra! Sean
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