Copied from Poul Anderson Appreciation, 19 May 2012.
The
Winged Cross, a tower in Chicago Integrate, is connected to other
towers by skyways. Aircars fly between them and cabs or flitters land on
the roof where there is a garden and a penthouse belonging to Nicholas
van Rijn. Several characters visit him there as also in his palatial
Djakarta office and in his mansion on Kilimanjaro.
Interesting
background details, for example about a character's residence(s),
accumulate over the course of a series, possibly the most famous being
certain rooms in Baker St. In Poul Anderson's works, another striking
example is the New York apartment of Manson Everard of the Time Patrol.
Later
in the future history featuring van Rijn, we learn that van Rijn's
protege, David Falkayn, had lived with his family in a house on First
Island in the Hesperian Sea on the colony planet Avalon but, because
Anderson could not possibly write all the details of such a long
fictitious history, we learn about this residence only long after
Falkayn's death. An interesting exercise for the reader is to reread the
van Rijn stories to uncover whatever details are revealed about the
Winged Cross.
Addendum, 20 May 2012: Colorful
details about the penthouse on the Winged Cross: several sources reveal
that it has a live butler, an expanse of trollcat rug and a wall that
can be rendered transparent giving a good view of the spires and towers
of Chicago Integrate. Van Rijn reclines in a lounger drinking beer and
does not stand to greet guests. His height as well as his width would
overwhelm them.
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