Death And Tau Ceti

In the recent post on Death, we should have added that, in Plato's Phaedo, Socrates says that dreamless sleep is the greatest happiness (?) and that, if there is no hereafter, then eternity is a single night (Yes!).

Not to be confused: Tau Zero is a novel by Poul Anderson whereas Tau Ceti is a star.

Tau Ceti on:

Wikipedia

Poul Anderson Appreciation

James Blish Appreciation

- and in Anderson's "Terminal Quest," it took human beings forty years to travel to Tau Ceti which is twelve light-years away so this story is set in an Andersonian STL (slower than light) future like at least three others that we have discussed recently.

(Lessons in Lancaster history continue: there was a controversial murder trial in the family of a local Councillor just over a hundred years ago.)

Seabirds In Two Timelines

Daven Laure, a Ranger of the Commonalty, looks out from a high building across the city of Pelogard on the planet, Serieve. Apart from the works of man, he sees that:

"Immense flocks of seabirds dipped and wheeled. Or were they birds? They had wings, anyhow, steely blue against a wan sky. Perhaps they cried or sang, into the wind skirl and wave rush; but Laure couldn't hear it in the enclosed place."

-Poul Anderson, "Starfog" IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 709-794 AT p. 720.

They are birds if they are descended from seagulls imported at many removes from Earth whereas, if they are the outcome of independent Serievean evolution, then maybe they should be classified as equivalents of birds.

In another future history series, Kithmen explore a planet where there are:

"...seabirds, whose wings made a white storm over the tower tops and whose flutings mingled with wind skirl and drum roll of surf..."

-Maurai And Kith, pp. 215-216.

Since this planet had also been colonized by human beings, maybe these seabirds were imported?

Each description reminds us of the other. Flandry's Legacy is Volume VII of The Technic Civilization Saga whereas Maurai And Kith is two short future history series in a single volume. 

Serieve is on the edge of another spiral arm of the galaxy whereas the unknown planet visited by the Kith is:

"...three hundred light-years from Sol's calculated present position." (p. 220)

"Starfog" is listed as set in 7100 whereas the Kith story is set twenty thousand years after the Golden Flyer had departed from Tau Ceti to:

"...the fringes of the galactic nucleus." (p. 224)

- which, in turn, was thousands of years in our future.

Story-Telling At The Kith Fair

Can "sitters" join the tinerans on Aeneas in Poul Anderson's Technic History? No.

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.

The Kith Village On Harbor

Starfarers.

Chapter 16 explains that the hostile robotic spacecraft encountered in 15 were probably mutated von Neumann machines.

17 returns us to the Kith but in the Kith village on Harbor at Tau Ceti instead of in Kith Town on Earth at Sol. Three or more ships in port at the same time means a Fair as when Fleetwing arrives to find Argosy and Eagle in orbit and this delays Argosy's departure. This reminds Poul Anderson's readers of the Nomads in his Psychotechnic History although the Nomads' ships are conventional sf faster than light hyperdrive spaceships. Many fictional futures parallel each other in some respects but not in others. We can imagine alternative futurians comparing their experiences in Anderson's inter-cosmic inn, the Old Phoenix.

Ormer Shaun, second mate of Fleetwing, and Haki Tensaro, textile dealer from Eagle, have a beer at the Orion and Bull, another fictional inn although this one is merely named. The surname, Shaughnessy, has been shortened to Shauny and now to Shaun. Confusing Kith with Nomads, I thought at first that "Ormer" was a surname and that "Shaun" was a personal name. In fact, it can be an alternative spelling of "Sean." Nomads and others in the Stellar Union period of the Psychotechnic History place their personal name after their surname but Kith do not.

17 and 21 are Kith short stories adapted as chapters of Starfarers. 10 and some other chapters expand the Kith history and the whole novel presents more than that history.

Hail, Poul Anderson.

Crew Members

The Boat Of A Million Years took many hundreds of years to draw its eight immortals together before they could venture beyond the Solar System as the crew of the Pytheas. Starfarers begins by listing ten crew members of the Envoy, then introduces them, some in different planetary systems, before they assemble:

Nansen, who will be captain, at Epsilon Eridani;

Jean Kilbirnie, second pilot, and Timothy Cleland, planetologist, at Tau Ceti;

Yu Wenji, engineer, at Sirius;

Selim Zeyd, biochemist, who has been to Epsilon Indi, in Istanbul;

Hanny Dayan, physicist, with Nansen in Paraguay;

Mamphela Mokoena, biologist and physician, and Lajos Ruszek, mate and first pilot, in South Africa.

That is eight of the ten and all that I can track down at this time of night.

It is late here although not where some of you are.

Earth Grown Foreign

Starfarers.

In travel time, Tau Ceti is twenty-two years away, Epsilon Eridani twenty-five. The life of an interstellar explorer:

"'Do you really want that? For the rest of your life? Returning each time to...to an Earth grown still more foreign?'" (2, p. 25)

An open-ended series of very long novels would not do justice to this concept. Starfarers will show us some of the alienization of Earth itself.

During a pause in a conversation between Jean Kilbirnie and Tim Cleland on a planet of Tau Ceti:

"The wind whispered through the leaves." (p. 26)

Some very new blog readers might wonder why I quote that sentence...

Hail, Vayu!

Introducing THE STAR FOX

Poul Anderson, The Star Fox (New York, 1966).

In the opening pages, the Moon is referred to as "Luna" and we are told that there is an Apollo City. It is not called "Luna City" so we are not in Robert Heinlein's Future History but maybe in a similar future. On Earth, any large city has a Welfare section, unsafe at night. The police merely contain "...the fury and futility..." (p. 10) of the technologically unemployed but protect those with needed skills. Gunnar Heim, self-described retired spaceman, drinks and gambles in the Welfare "subculture" (ibid.) where he goes armed with a stun pistol.

These are familiar futurological issues. Let's not discuss them again. They are only background colour, in any case. Heim, of Norwegian descent and now naturalized as American:

"'...was born on Gea, Tau Ceti II.'" (p. 12)

- and was in the space navy. So we gather that there is regular interstellar travel, almost certainly faster than light. Sf cliches fall into place but we expect Poul Anderson to put them to good use.

The title is standard. This author's titles also include Star Ways. And, of course, we cannot escape from Star Trek or Star Wars. But we rightfully expect a better deal from Poul Anderson.

Diaspora

The Long Way Home.

Ed Langley, like HG Wells' Time Traveller, has passed into the future and must learn what has become of mankind. However, the Time Traveller contends only with the class division - and species division - between Morlocks and Eloi whereas Langley faces a galactic diaspora.

Interstellar emigration began slowly in the twenty-first century. During later periods of trouble, successive waves of malcontents and refugees went far from Sol to avoid recapture. Lost colonies are presumably scattered throughout the galaxy. 

The Technate resumed colonization as a safety valve and tried to retain control of nearby colonies although this became impossible so that there are now about a dozen independent states still in contact with Sol. Sol and Centauri contend for the mineral resources of Sirius where the government is weak. Valti of the Commercial Society is from Ammon in the Tau Ceti system. There may be more info.

Addenda after an afternoon out: 

The Tau Ceti system also includes the inhabited planets, Osiris and Horus.

Langley's companion, Marin, observes that, among the thousands of lost colonies:

"'Surely one of them, somewhere, has become something different.'" (CHAPTER ELEVEN, p. 103)

She means something better than any of the known civilizations. Surely... This is one of many sf scenarios that could be extended indefinitely with additional speculations about utopias, dystopias etc.

Meanwhile, on another blog...

At Tau Ceti

"The Voortrekkers."

The third narrative passage, on pp. 255-259, is four and a third pages in length, is narrated by Korene and begins while the ship orbits the second planet of Tau Ceti. Since this planet has humanly breathable air, therefore life, it will be explored with organic bodies.

For two pages, Korene remembers a television interview in which a spokesman for the interstellar project explained that small spaceships cannot carry human beings but exploration needs human intelligence so human psychoneural patterns would be mapped into computer-sensor-effector systems which can be switched off in transit. Organic bodies would be used to test the habitability of planets. Such bodies are self-healing, therefore, in some ways, more durable than robots. The same psychoneural patterns would be used to economise on data banks.

Korene says that sending themselves into the sleeping bodies will be a "...climax outcrying the seven thunders..." (p. 259) Another Biblical reference. See Revelation 10: 1-7.

Tau Ceti And Coldsleep

"In The Shadow."

Karl Rouvaratz wants to:

"...propagandize for a real interstellar trip. Tau Ceti, say; that one must have planets, and you could coldsleep during the decades of the voyage." (p. 94)

Again Tau Ceti.

Again also decades-long interstellar journeys with the passengers in coldsleep. This idea links the stories collected in The Queen Of Air And Darkness... even though they do not form a consistent series. In the multiverse, these timelines will be close together.

Interplanetary And Interstellar Exploration

See Interplanetary Exploration In Some Future Histories.

Poul Anderson's Twilight World, which just makes it into future historical status, features exploration of - Mars. The Solar System presents many opportunities for planetary and other explorations and we need not restrict our attention to future histories, e.g., there is Lunar exploration in:

the classic works by Verne and Wells;

 

Heinlein's first Scribner Juvenile, Rocketship Galileo;

 

Anderson's "The Light" and Operation Luna.

 

Heinlein's Adult and Juvenile Future Histories skip past interplanetary exploration to colonization but there is interstellar exploration in Methuselah's Children and Time For The Stars.

 

The crew of the Leonora Christine in Anderson's Tau Ceti become involuntary intergalactic explorers.

 

When following ideas through works of sf, we do not confine ourselves to a single author but do find that Anderson contributes much.

 

And now reality supersedes fiction. Explorers in sf novels had to approach quite close to a star to confirm or disconfirm the existence of a planetary system. Now we know of many exo-planets and are about to learn a lot more about them. Might extra-solar civilizations be confirmed in 2022 in our timeline?

At Tau Ceti

Starfarers, 49.

There are many fictional versions of Tau Ceti. This is the one in Poul Anderson's Starfarers.

The reception of Envoy is more like what would have been expected on Earth in earlier millennia: tumultuous welcome, appearances, interviews, celebrations, lectures, conferences, interpretation of data downloads. 

Human beings live not only on the planet Harbor but also throughout the Tau Cetian planetary system. On Harbor, there is still a Kith village on the Isle of Weyan. A woman called Chandor Lia is president of the Duncanian continent and her son, Chandor Barak, becomes director of the new Venture League's academy on the seventh floor of the League's headquarters in the city of Argosy. Like men in Robert Heinlein's Future History and Anderson's Psychotechnic History, Chandor unexpectedly wears a kilt.

Although the League, founded by Captain Nansen of Envoy, attracts financing and runs businesses, its ultimate aim is neither gain nor glory but "...humankind's place in the universe." (p. 466) The League is opposed by those who want the capabilities brought by Envoy to be used profitably at home. 

Economics

Starfarers, 48-49.

Although nanotech and robotics have made all necessities and perhaps also all comforts free, the places of business in Elya include shops so what is bought and sold?

A mansion belongs to an association of which Varday is a member and she currently has the use of it. What is the basis of such membership?

Earth exports Seladorianism but not nanotech to Harbor, Tau Ceti, where there is both money and poverty although we are also told that:

"...technics feeds, clothes, houses, medicates everybody..." (49, p. 471)

 Do vested interests oppose nanotech as they oppose the Venture League and subsidize Seladorian missionaries?

Planets have become self-sufficient so there needs to be a reason for star travel other than trade.

The Growth Of A Future History

Either a short story or a chapter of a novel can be part of a future history. The short story can be published in a magazine or in an original anthology, then republished first maybe in a miscellaneous collection but eventually in a future history volume. The short story must be a complete narrative whereas a chapter of a novel can derive some of its meaning from its position in the novel. Poul Anderson's Starfarers is a novel that incorporates revised versions of two previously published Kith stories and also additional chapters expanding the history of the Kith from their beginning to their decline. Thus, Kith Town has begun in Chapter 10, p. 84, is "...ever dwindling..." in Chapter 44, p. 423 and is "...empty..." in Chapter 48.

In the Prologue, every President of the United States gains a permanent Chief Advisor. In Chapter 10, the Greatman of Mongku is no longer Earth's ruler but a mere figurehead. In Chapter 44, the Coordinator of the Jensui Governance reigns in the Solar System and Seladorianism is growing in North Meric. In Chapters 47-48, when Envoy has returned after eleven thousand years, there is no political power structure left on Earth but Seladorianism remains a major spiritual force and even sends missionaries to Tau Ceti in Chapter 49.

This is a condensed future history of Earth, Envoy and Kith.

Harbor

Poul Anderson, Starfarers (New York, 1999), 17, pp. 120-138.

Tau Ceti is eleven and a half light years from Sol and there is a Kith village on its planet, Harbor. Kith stop at Harbor before returning to Earth which has been hostile to Kith. Spanning interstellar distances at sub-light speeds, Kith ships are rarely able to make rendezvous whereas, in the Psychotechnic History, Nomads, traveling FTL, meet at a planet outside known space which they have named "Rendezvous." Kith garb, including kilt and bonnet, sounds Nomad.

When the Kith ships, Fleetwing, Argosy and Eagle, orbit Harbor simultaneously, they delay departure to conduct a Fair. Kith must marry out of their ship. Four ships have developed the art of yarn-spinning with bardic accompaniment. IIRC, we are about to read a story within the story.

If some Kith remain permanently in the village or in Kith Town on Earth, do they cease to be Kith?

Bode's Law

Even on a busy day with several activities and other reading, we can find something worth posting about in Poul Anderson:

"The systems of similar stars were usually very much alike - especially when it came to the spacing of planets."

-"The Green Thumb," p. 33.

In Robert Heinlein's Time For The Stars, an interstellar explorer claims that the planetary system of Tau Ceti confirms Bode's Law but do recently detected exo-planets confirm it? See here.

I thought that expecting such a law to apply to other planetary systems was a case of generalizing from a single instance. Certainly exo-systems confound expectations in other ways. That's probably all for tonight, folks.

Again Tau Ceti

The opening chapter of CJ Cherryh's Downbelow Station summarizes interstellar travel from 2005 to 2352 and refers to "Pell's Star" which, the Introduction informs us, is Tau Ceti, now known to have planets, one or two possibly habitable. See here and here.

A lot of sf features Tau Ceti (see here), including works by Poul Anderson and other authors discussed on this blog (see here).

Planetary Designations

(Uranus.)

Poul Anderson, "Horse Trader," see here.

One envoy is from Tau Ceti III, the third planet of Tau Ceti, so maybe that is an Earth-like planet? Its envoy sounds humanoid apart from being centauroid (quadrupedal). His English is fully comprehensible despite his pronouncing "monster" and "scum" as "monther" and "thcum." (p. 272)

Another envoy is from 61 Cygni A V, the fifth planet of its star, so maybe that is a gas giant? Sure enough, the planet is called "New Uranus" and its envoy is enclosed in a protective sphere where he, "George," breathes high pressure hydrogen.

Anderson, generalizing from a single instance, is modeling extra-solar planetary systems on the Solar System. However, more recently, large planets have been detected close to their primaries. The universe is one big surprise.

Metonymies

Poul Anderson, "Horse Trader" IN Anderson, Space Folk (New York, 1989), pp. 261-303.

The title character of "Horse Trader" has to negotiate with 61 Cygni A, Tau Ceti and 70 Ophiuchi B. We recognize these as the names of stars. Each is identified by its position in a constellation and also by a letter if it is a member of a binary or multiple system. Anderson informs us that each of these stellar names is a "metonymy." (p. 263)

Each of the beings with whom the "Horse Trader" negotiates represents neither a star nor its entire planetary system but just one society on one planet of that star. Thus, a representative of the United Kingdom, the European Union or the United States, having arrived in the system of 61 Cygni A, might be metonymously described as "Sol."

One being is referred to as a "Centaurian" although he is from the clan of Brogu on the continent of Almerik on the planet Alpha Centauri B II, not from Alpha Centauri A III, which is also mentioned, let alone from Beta Centauri.

Centaurus is a constellation.
Alpha and Beta Centauri are stellar systems.
Alpha Centauri B is a star.
Alpha Centauri B II is a planet.
This "Centaurian" represents one tribe on one continent.

And so on.

Extra-solars might place Sol in a constellation as seen from their planet or might use some other system to classify stars. 

Lars Telander

Poul Anderson's Tau Zero does not give any year dates. The following improvised chronology begins with Lars Telanders' birth as time zero. Bracketed numbers are his time dilated age.

0          Telander born in Dalarna.
3           Alpha Centauri expedition leaves.
6           Maser messages from expedition.
25        Telander on Epsilon Eridani expedition.
54 (36) Return from Epsilon Eridani.
55 (37) Telander on Tau Ceti expedition.
86 (50) Return from Tau Ceti.
89 (53) Leonora Christine leaves.

Telander is:

a crew member to Epsilon Eridani;

first officer to Tau Ceti but becomes commander when the captain dies;

captain of the Leonora Christine.

At age 53, he has adolescent great-grandnephews in Dalarna.