Saturday 27 June 2015

Breakfasts And "Good Morning"

Dominic Flandry tells Chives that "Good morning" is a contradiction in terms. Before breakfast, Flandry swims twelve laps, then exercises. Chives serves coffee royal and a souffle. I have just slouched out of bed for muesli and coffee.

On a weather-controlled fine spring morning, Chives retracts the outer wall so that Flandry sees flowers and an orange tree with a Cynthian song bird in his roof garden. He is surrounded by the towers of Archopolis, blue sky, white clouds, sparkling aircars and the pulse of machines. After eating, he smokes by a fountain in the garden.

From where I am sitting, I can see sky, clouds and trees but no towers, aircars, song bird or fountain and, of course, am not served by Chives. I should have worked for Terrestrial Intelligence.

2 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I checked this part of A STONE IN HEAVEN, Chapter 3, and the bit which stuck in my mind was the part of Archopolis where Admiral Flandry had his home/office went back two centuries, to when an inspired school of architecture led to the building of the apparently striking towers there.

Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Ha! You should have worked for the Naval Intelligence Corps? If you had lived a thousand years or more from now, why not? After all, the Corps employed many technicians, scientists, and scholars!

Sean