Tuesday 19 August 2014

A New Eon IX

Greg Bear, Eon (London, 2002).

"...Lanier had a much higher regard for Mirsky [a Russian lieutenant general] than for Belozersky [a political officer]. Mirsky might listen to reason; Belozersky wouldn't even know what reason was." (p. 241)

Right.

Talsit (see previous post) sounds as if it would help with psychotherapy and maybe even with meditation. It:

"Smooths the memory..." (p. 253) - although I am not quite sure what that means;
rearranges priorities;
but does not dull memory;
blocks subconscious access to some disturbing memories;
but does not prevent access to those memories by conscious will.

Thus, mental processes are more easily controlled though not suppressed. Thus also, the Stoners' technology is not only physical but also mental.

Looking for the kidnapped Patricia, the crew of a V/STOL aircraft will travel one million kilometers north along the corridor, sometimes descending to the floor, then return. This is what the reader wants: exploration of a strange environment which, in this case, is neither a spatial volume nor a planetary surface but a corridor which seems, contradictorily, to be artificial yet infinite.

Is the corridor literally infinite?
If so, how can it also be artificial?
What will be found along it?
Will the explorers enter any of the "gates" which, distributed along the corridor, lead to different universes?

As I am at the mid-point of the novel, about 250 pages stretch invitingly ahead like the infinite corridor...

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