Flying Away From Babur

Mirkheim, VI.

There are two reasons not to go into hyperdrive too deep inside a planetary system:

there is a greater probability that a quantum jump will bring part of the spaceship into the same volume of space as a meteor, thus damaging the ship;

curved space interferes with finely tuned oscillators.

Later in the Technic History, Dominic Flandry's private ship, Hooligan, is finely tuned enough to go hyper within the Solar System, then to travel from Jovian orbit to Earth in minutes, but surely such a transit would increase the first risk?

Because time crawls before Muddlin' Through can go hyper and escape pursuit, Falkayn remembers. His memories include:

"...the splendor of an Ythrian on the wing..." (p. 109)

As with the earlier reference to a Merseian, this is the first mention of an Ythrian in the Polesotechnic League Tetralogy although, if we read Poul Anderson's Technic History in this order, then we will very soon encounter the two Ythrian volumes, The People Of The Wind and The Earth Book Of Stormgate.

Andrea and I watched an episode of Star Trek: Picard and, of course, I thought about how good the Technic History would look on screen.

A Wrestler

Mirkheim, VI.

Not much time this morning. Breakfast post.

The trader team have been made prisoners and are about to be interrogated:

"Falkayn gripped his spirit as if it were a wrestler trying to throw him." (p. 97)

That reminds me of something. Jacob was renamed "Israel" when he struggled with God. This is also described as wrestling with the angel. But a Jesuit informed me that, Biblically, an angel just means the presence of God. The Hebrew Bible is a dialogue between a deity and a people. Dialogue can involve conflict. More generally, we struggle with spirit, God, something within and outside us.

Inside That Environmental Unit

Mirkheim, V.

"Two beings waited... One was a Merseian..." (p. 95)

Any sf fan who read Mirkheim when it was first published would probably have been familiar with Merseians by then. Nevertheless, if anyone reads Mirkheim as the culmination of the Polesotechnic League Tetralogy before reading The People Of The Wind to be followed by The Earth Book Of Stormgate, then this is their first sight of a Merseian. The trader team's earlier visit to Merseia is described in "Day of Burning" which, like "Lodestar," about van Rijn's visit to Mirkheim, is presented in the Earth Book on a "now it can be told" basis. Of course, both "Day of Burning" and "Lodestar" precede Mirkheim in The Technic Civilization Saga where all the Technic History instalments are published for the first time in their chronological order. Nevertheless, it is sometimes important in the real world to remember the order in which information was made public. People cannot have responded to an important event if they had not been made aware of it yet. Avalonian readers of the Earth Book learn for the first time what Falkayn did on Merseia and how van Rijn came to Mirkheim.

This is like reading real history and authentic historical novels.

On Babur

Mirkheim, V.

Babur is a sub-Jovian hydrogen-atmosphere planet. The trader team, prisoners of the Baburites, are housed in what Falkayn recognizes as a man-made environmental unit:

made from durable alloys and plastics;

thickly walled;

triply insulated;

reinforced windows;

heated interior;

recycled oxygen atmosphere;

hydrogen penetrating the walls used to make water;

helium penetrating walls used instead of nitrogen;

artificial Terrestrial gravity.

Interesting details and I had not noted this account on previous readings.

Escape proof? Not for our guys.

Visiting Andrea above the Old Pier Bookshop tomoz. Maybe some evening posts.

Falkayn Going To Babur

Mirkheim, IV.

David Falkayn calls an unorthodox game of poker. I do not understand the references to wild cards etc. 

"'Om mane padme hum,' whispered Adzel shakenly." (p. 76)

In an American TV comedy, a young man who had made a difficult catch in football was asked what had passed through his head as he watched the ball descend and he replied, "The Lord's Prayer?" Obviously, he had not been reciting the Lord's Prayer but we use such phrases to express strong feelings and what feel like life or death situations. "Om mane padme hum" and "Our Father..." are equivalents.

When my late friend, Fran Cobden, referred to "David Falkayn and his merry crew," he must have been thinking of passages like this chapter.

Falkayn quotes Tennyson's Ulysses:

"'I am a part of all that I have met...'" (p. 79)

In this poem, I prefer the later lines:

for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Time In Fiction II

Mirkheim, IV.

"'Oh, no!' Falkayn groaned. 'What's happened to you two in the past three years?'" (p. 76)

We notice that it has been auctorially decided and decreed that the three members of Nicholas van Rijn's first trade pioneer crew have been apart for, specifically, three years. Of course, an author has complete control over the length of time that he says has elapsed between the episodes of a series. A sequel written twenty years after the original work can, if the author wants it to, open five minutes after the close of that work or, alternatively, a sequel begun five minutes after completing that original work can be set twenty years later. And so on.

I have not seen any Ghostbusters films but I did see the trailer to Ghostbusters II in which a character was checking his equipment after a lapse of time. This is metafiction. The time that has passed for the characters is probably meant to corresponds to the time that has elapsed for cinema audiences although this need not have been the case. II could have commenced immediately after the close of I. Instead, the script acknowledges the time that has elapsed outside the script.

In Mirkheim, Poul Anderson does something more complicated with time in order to wind up the Polesotechnic League sub-series of his Technic History. "Lodestar," published in 1973, is set ten years before Mirkheim, published in 1977. However, the Prologue of Mirkheim includes a section headed Y minus 9. This section is set nine years before Falkayn's reference to "'...the past three years.'" During those nine years, Coya Conyon/Falkayn has joined the crew for five years, then the crew has been disbanded for three years. That totals eight but I suppose that an extra year can be fitted in there somewhere.

Conversations

Mirkheim, I-IV.

The nine-part Prologue is unusually long and complex. Let's skip past that and just consider Chapters I-IV.

In novels, characters interact, sometimes in overt conflict but often just in conversation. They impart plot information to each other and thus to their readers.

I

David Falkayn explains to his wife, Coya, why Nicholas van Rijn is sending him, Adzel and Chee Lan to Babur.

Adzel and Chee Lan discuss this mission and the latter summarizes the plot of "Esau" to the former.

II

Sandra Tamarin discusses the Mirkheim crisis with her and van Rijn's son, Eric.

Sandra receives an offer from Supermetals representative, Captain Nadi, who summarizes the plot of "Lodestar" to her.

III

The leaders of the three main groups in the Polesotechnic League discuss the crisis but without resolution.

IV

Falkayn and his crew embark on their mission and I go to bed after a long day trip to Northumberland and back. (Sorry for the sudden wrench from a fictional universe to the world of one of its readers.)

Planning And Unpredictability

Mirkheim, II.

Captain Nadi of the Supermetals Company to Sandra Tamarin, Grand Duchess of Hermes:

"'David Falkyan himself suggested Hermes as the eventual caretaker. True, he was only thinking of the Commonwealth and the League as rivals for Mirkheim. He did not foresee Babur's entry. However, we have decided his idea remains the best we have.'" (p. 59)

Declare an interest: David Falkayn, the discoverer of Mirkheim, is a Hermetian.

It was entirely predictable that:

the source of supermetals, Mirkheim, would be independently rediscovered;

the Solar Commonwealth and the Polesotechnic League would then clash for control of this valuable planet.

It was entirely unpredictable that an independent power, Babur, would also enter the conflict but plans have to allow for contingencies. 

In fact, Falkayn himself will discover that the Baburites are dupes of a cartel within the League, in any case. Falkayn's contributions to Technic civilization outweigh those of either his mentor, Nicholas van Rijn, or their remote successor, Dominic Flandry.

Primitive Vigour

Mirkheim, II.

Sandra Tamarin remembers her time with Nicholas van Rijn on Diomedes. If we are reading The Technic Civilization Saga consecutively, then we remember Sandra and van Rijn on Diomedes. In the original publication order, we might have read War Of The Wing-Men/The Man Who Counts before Mirkheim but otherwise would have waited to read it in The Earth Book Of Stormgate.

Van Rijn was:

"...almost unendurably primitive...'" (p. 56)

- and therefore at the same time possessed a:

"...raw vigor [that] had saved both their lives..." (ibid.)

We welcome one character's perception of another, especially when it is presented as from a later perspective.

Today there have been two posts and, according to my computer, 21516 page views so far with just under three quarters of an hour left until midnight. 

For some of us in Lancaster, today has been a long May Day celebration. Tomorrow, three of us will travel early to the North East for a Wesak celebration so there will probably be even fewer posts. On Tuesday, we, editorially speaking, in other words I, will visit Andrea over the Old Pier Bookshop - whose commentaries on living are worth hearing, especially now.

We read and live.

Addendum: Final page view count, 23942.

Dark Home And Real Estate

Mirkheim, II.

In Norse mythology, Myrkheimr means "dark home," although it has halls of gold. It is the abode of dwarves.

In Poul Anderson's "Lodestar" and Mirkheim, Mirkheim is an uninhabitable, now sunless, planet coated in supermetals more valuable than gold.

"'And Mirkheim is real estate that everybody wants.'" (p. 55)

That sentence might remind some readers of Hell in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Season Of Mists. When Lucifer Morningstar retires and expels demons and damned from Hell, he locks his now empty realm and gives the key to Morpheus, Lord of Dreams. Hell now becomes desirable supernatural real estate and "everyone," including Odin, Thor and Loki for the Aesir, makes offers to Morpheus... The Aesir might evade the Ragnarok by sheltering in Hell...

Thus, this version of Hell is supernatural like Myrkheimr and coveted like Mirkheim.

Gaiman's fantasy matches Anderson's.