Re: Anyone remember the Cygnans?

On Jun 23, 9:29 pm, Logan Kearsley <chronosur...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 23, 12:09 am, TBerk <bayareab...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jupiter_Theft

I bring it up because it has stayed with me (off and on of course) as
one of the most realistic and creepy portrayals of workable alien
biology (& way different than humans) in popular fiction.

Its right up there with the Mote in God's Eye/ Gripping Hand type
setup in terms of non-human 3D feeling aliens.

Yup. It has a great sense of Scale, too. Typically, one thinks that
spaceships require airlocks to go outside. 'Tis just a bit awe-
inspiring to discover that, when your ship is Big enough, you no more
worry about the air lost through the door than you do about the slow
trickle of atoms escaping the top of Earth's atmosphere.
Also, a demonstration that, no matter how much we may want the
protagonist to win, there really isn't that much you can do to thwart
the designs of a million-year old civilization with moon-sized
spaceships and the ability to move gas giants.
It's good that it all turns out all right in the end, but I'm pretty
sure the book would've sucked if the humans had managed to Macgyver a
way to thwart the Cygnans.

This is why _War of the Worlds_ ended with Earth germs defeating the
Martians, methinks.

(Stuff like Peerson's Puppeteers are too cartoon like sometimes,
albeit intriguing.)

Cartoon how? The Puppeteers are among my favorites.

Mine too; I suspect the "cartoon like" stigma comes from the Cecil
the Seasick Sea Serpent association. OTOH they really weren't all that
amusing once you got to know them, with habits like breeding traits
_they_ considered desirable into _other_ species...

Cygnans have them beat for ambition, though. Sure, the Puppeteers
routinely move about multiple Earth masses, but the Cygnans steal *gas
giants*.

I'll see you stealing gas giants and raise you the Fleet Of
Stars. ;>)


Mark L. Fergerson
.

Relevant Pages