Dry Cosmic Hiss

Although Falkayn attempts radio communication with a pursuing Shenn battleship:

"...nothing spoke to Falkayn save a dry cosmic hiss." (Chapter XVII, p. 509) (For full reference, see here.)

This "dry cosmic hiss" joins the "dry whisper" and the "dismal universal hiss" of previous quotations. See Cosmic Interference. Those earlier quotations are from Poul Anderson and from James Blish quoting John Milton.

Cosmic Interference III

"Cosmic interference seethed across his radio voice..." (p. 746) (For full reference, see here.)

"The star noise in his receivers was like surf and fire." (ibid.)

Both surf and fire!

Compare:

Cosmic Interference
Cosmic Interference II
Dry Cosmic Hiss

This cosmic background is common to works of hard sf, whichever fictional future they are set in.

Space explorers move through this inhospitable and uninhabitable vacuum full of lethal radiation yet remain comfortable, e.g., in the saloon of Daven Laure's ship with draperies, music, perfumes, animations and form-fitting furniture. (p. 738) Having evolved in a particular planetary environment, human beings must take that environment with them when they travel through space. Almost anywhere else, we would die instantly. Although - many extrasolar planets are being discovered so maybe some are terrestroid and as yet uninhabited.

Cosmic Interference II

See Cosmic Interference.

"Another pause came, a stillness so absolute that he heard the hiss of cosmic radio interference in his earplugs."
-Poul Anderson, Three Worlds To Conquer (London, 1966), Chapter 7, p. 55.

"All he heard was the seething between galaxies." (ibid.)

This is the universal background of all hard sf. In this novel, there is only interplanetary space travel and the viewpoint character is on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter in the outer Solar System, not further out between stars or galaxies. However, from space, the universe is visible and even audible. Poul Anderson rightly reminds us of this cosmic background.

"Starfog": Some General Observations

"Starfog."

"Cosmic interference..." is described as "...star noise...like surf and fire." (p. 746) See Cosmic Hiss.

When Graydal's mirth, which "...had never been strong..." fades:

"The reflection of clouded stars glistened on her faceplate like tears." (p. 756)

Thus, the impenetrable "starfog," which is the source of her grief, outwardly reflects her inner feelings.

The stars are ruby, ember, yellow, green, blue or candent. (ibid.)

Addendum, later the same afternoon (by way of an explanation and apology): Before going out this afternoon, I typed this post and intended to save it to finish it later but instead accidentally published it and it has now acquired a comment so I will leave it as it is, apart from this addendum, and will use my remaining hand-written notes to generate a further post.

Silence And Sounds

"The universe is mostly silence."
-Poul Anderson, After Doomsday (Panther Books, Frogmore, St Albans, Herts, 1975), CHAPTER ONE, p. 7.

Although there is the cosmic hiss. Meanwhile, Anderson lists the noises of murdered Earth:

the rumble and bellow of crust shaking, mountains opening and volcanoes erupting;

the seethe and hiss of boiled oceans now cooling;

the shriek and skirl of winds scouring recently molten continents, now bare black stone;

cracking, booming lightning.

The description continues:

ash;
smoke;
acid rain;
sulphurous clouds;
upthrust crags;
cities engulfed;
ships sunk;
trees, grass, deer, whales and human beings dissolved in lava.

This beginning is an ending.

Cosmic Interference

"He beamed a call, but there was no answer. Only the dry whisper of cosmic interference."
-Poul Anderson, The Snows Of Ganymede (New York, 1958), Chapter 4.

Compare the "...dismal universal hiss..." in John Milton and James Blish here. I had thought that Blish mentioned not a "hiss" but the music of the spheres"! See:

Song Of Earth
Cosmic Questions
Contact Re-Established (Out Of The Silent City)

Blish wrote that no one had ever heard "...the sound of the stars..." (The Star Dwellers, Chapter 12, p. 117) "...until two centuries after [Milton] but nobody has ever described it better." (ibid.) Maybe Anderson's "...dry whisper..." is a good attempt?

(I must have misremembered "the sound of the stars" as "the music of the spheres.")

Robots And The Cosmos

Poul Anderson, The Fleet Of Stars, 18-19.

"As for safety, the software in the robot, which could not be altered or replaced without triggering a burnout of the robot itself, would never obey an order that had any reasonable probability of endangering others." (18, p. 225)

Asimov's Second Law of Robotics.

"...the low seething of the cosmos..." (19, p. 228)

Yet another description of background radio noise. See Dry Cosmic Hiss.

Breakfast post. Busy today.

Hiss And Mutter

Space is silent except when astronauts switch on their radios:

"Hitherto they had talked a little when working outside, not real conversation but a trivial remark now and then, a grunt for response...just enough to drown out the hissing of the stars."
-Poul Anderson, The Enemy Stars, 11, p. 83.

"Nakamura's voice crackled above the mutter of stars." (p. 85)

Descriptions of cosmic noise, as of the Milky Way, have become collectible items.

Meanwhile, I remain fascinated by the complexities of James Blish's overlapping After Such Knowledge Trilogy and Haertel Scholium. See Another Summary.

John Milton

Either Chaos or Void preceded cosmic order, according to various mythologies and philosophies. Genesis has both: a formless void but also chaotic waters that have to be controlled and bounded as part of the creative process.

If Chaos was before, then where is it now?

Beneath Heaven, between the created universe and Hell, according to John Milton (see here);

in Hell itself, according to Robert Heinlein and Poul Anderson (see here);

beyond Hell, according to Alan Moore...

Heinlein and Anderson contradict Milton on the location of Chaos. Before leaving this subject, let us note four modern allusions to Milton.

CS Lewis quotes:

"Where day never shuts his eye
"Up in the broad fields of the sky." (see here)

Philip Pullman quotes:

"His dark materials..." (see here)

James Blish quotes:

"A dismal universal hiss..." (Paradise Lost, Book X, line 508, see here)

- and applies this phrase to stellar radio noise, describing it also as "...that noise of chaos..." (The Star Dwellers, Chapter 12, p. 117)

In Blish's The Day After Judgement, Milton is mentioned and Satan speaks Miltonic blank verse.

Finally, Blish almost quotes "His dark materials..." In Mission To The Heart Stars, Chapter Three, p. 35, he describes "...dark areas..." in the galaxy as "...remaining raw materials..." and as the Creator's sign that He has not yet finished making this galaxy.