Jorun And Others

(I will be away on family business for two days. Page views decline when I don't post but I can't do it all the time!)

(I found nine Virgin Planet cover illustrations so I am using them to illustrate Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History. Some more recent novels, even when re-issued, only have a single cover.)

After, in the previous post, comparing Asimov unfavorably with Anderson (yet again), I reflected that Asimov has time travelers, robots, detectives, an interstellar empire and a science of society in one long series, plus some detectives elsewhere, whereas the Anderson side of the comparison comprises two future histories, the Time Patrol series and a mystery trilogy. Thus, more variety.

How much do we know about the Galactic Civilization in "The Chapter Ends"?

It comprises humanity and other species;

thanks to artificial mutation in earlier generations, every brain contains a generator to control cosmic energies;

gas giant dwellers' generators and those of human beings and their allies interfere with each other;

therefore, the two civilizations agree to inhabit different Galactic Sectors;

the psychotechnician, Jorun of Fulkhis, is nearly a thousand years old;

like every other Galactic, he can control his nervous system, fly and generate a wind-screen;

he can also fly thirty thousand light-years in ten days;

Terrans chose not to participate in Civilization but to live as peasants beside the massive ruins of the First Empire;

even they have a lifetime of maybe two centuries;

some planets have been given luminous skies;

a few retain cities but most Galactics live far apart;

Jorun lives on a moor where there are dark nights;

the planet Loa is covered by an indigo ocean with many islands;

Sharang has massive mountains;

Jareb has a sky full of light;

humanity must evacuate the Galactic periphery to make way for the Hulduvians;

(but, since the Terrans do not use cosmic energies, why must they vacate?);

since the Hulduvians will not arrive for centuries, it is acceptable that one very old man remains on Earth;

he expects to enjoy solitude but screams and runs when he realizes that he is completely alone;

this is an unhappy ending to an otherwise peaceful, autumnal story but it is to be hoped that Kormt will adjust to his self-imposed isolation.