Thursday 27 October 2016

Falkayn's Age IV

Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization (see here) rightly puts the birth of David Falkayn seventeen years before "The Three-Cornered Wheel"  and could have placed "A Sun Invisible" exactly three years after "The Three-Cornered Wheel" instead of more vaguely in the 2420s but how was it determined that "The Three-Cornered Wheel" occurred in 2423 rather than in any other year? There is disagreement about the dating of the Chronology (see the above link) but my question is: how was any specific year decided on in the first place?

If, for the sake of argument, "The Three-Cornered Wheel" were to be dated to 2423, then "Lodestar" should be dated to 2439 for its first part and 2449 for its second part whereas the Chronology gives 2446. I am rereading "The Trouble Twisters" for any clues about Falkayn's age but not for year dates because none are given. Does Technic Civilization even keep the Gregorian calendar?

In our first sight of the trader team:

Captain David Falkayn, human, Hermetian, Master Merchant of the Polesotechnic League;
Adzel, Wodenite, planetologist;
Chee Lan, Cynthian, xenobiologist;
and Muddlehead, consciousness-level spaceship's computer -

- are playing poker in the ship, Muddlin' Through, as they do again at the very end of Satan's World. There, the renewed card game signifies that life has returned to normal after a crisis. But history will move forward, nevertheless.

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