"G. David Nordley - After the Vikings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nordley G. David)

In the original version, the stories were assembled in the chronological order of their writing, not that of
their future history. As I assembled them, I realized that I had written them in exactly the reverse of their
future historical order. This archeological discovery of my own past suggested a light-hearted frame to tie
the stories together. So, for a page or two in front of each story, you will find a pair of alien archeologists,
Hive-Father Author and his Eldest Daughter, peeling back of layers of sediment from the latest and
earliest story, “Morning on Mars,” to the earliest and latest, “Martian Valkyrie.” In between are a first
contact story, “The Day of their Coming” which echoes both major themes of CONTACT XIV, a story
of Martian terraforming, “Comet Gypsies,” which does not actually take place on Mars but concerns an
absolutely essential part of it, and “A Mars,” which was written subsequent to the CONTACT draft of
the collection and added into the appropriate time slot for this Scorpius publication, along with its
interstory material.

In the earliest of these stories, one of the first dozen I wrote, I came face to face with my own evolution
as a writer and could not resist a couple of tweaks here and there. But it is nowhere near a complete
rewrite, and for better or worse, some early reckless enthusiasm shows through. There is progressively
less tweaking as we go toward “A Mars.” A character’s name was changed in “Morning on Mars” to
add continuity with the frame story and with Martian Valkyrie.

G. David Nordley




Around an Ancient Star
HIVE-LORD ALTHORcaressed his eldest daughter with a ropy tentacle and urged her over to the viewport
to look at the ruddy, dusty world below them.

“God-awful ancient world,” he hissed, both overtones and undertones carrying meaning. “Been around
that white dwarf some seven or eight billion times, I’d say. God knows how many civilizations have been
through here.”

“If there is such a being, he might. We are newcomers, and I’m certain there’s more to this galaxy, out
there,” she waved a feather ear toward the infinite, “watching us.”

“We could bioform it. It’s held life before. There’s enough material in the moons of those Giant Planets.
Not much of an asteroid belt left, though.”

“It’s a new white dwarf, fading rapidly. In a million revolutions, it won’t provide enough light.”

“That, daughter, is a long time.” Althor did a quick mental calculation — about a hundred times longer
than their race had written records.

“Well, bioforming it can wait until we finish our excavations. The last people to live here were avians —
huge beaks, big heads, smallish bodies and big wings. About two billion revolutions ago — with this high
inclination, there are a lot of annual weather phenomena that leave layers — we can count the
revolutions. The atmosphere must have been much thicker then.”

“Quite right. Blasted away by the red giant phase of this star. If we’d only gotten here a hundred million
revolutions or so earlier. The star must have started out in the yellow class — about as bright as it is now,
but much bigger and more yellow. Hard to see how it had a thick atmosphere, though, exposed to the