Final Thoughts: Four Months in May
(4MiM Supplement #9)
'“We’re also gonna have you do a regimen of exercise, mostly stretches at first, then resistance, and finally, weight training to get your muscles back in shape.”
Although Joanni did not experience zero gravity conditions on Oreana, the gravitational pull on that planet was light enough that, like most returning astronauts, she needed to go through a series of supervised exercises to reacclimate herself to normal conditions (in her case, the artificial gravity of the Eridanus).
“You better declare it to Gillis, then.”
Officers and crew were restricted from removing planetary specimens over a certain value for their personal use without declaring them to ISEA.
Chapter 36. Bureaucrats, Clerks, and Men of Action
“I’ve read up on your planet and it isn’t like that anymore. You just can’t go running through forests or jumping into rivers.”
By very late in the 22nd century, individuals on Earth were confined to population centers; most open space was off-limits to all but military and government personnel.
. . . made each week seem like a month, each month the perceived equivalent of four.
Refer back to 4MiM Supplement #1 for an explanation of how this perception of time ties back into the novel’s title:
The title of this work, Four Months in May, is drawn from the confined feeling one might experience on a long space voyage, but also the similar feeling experienced by many during the recent pandemic lockdown: each day seemed a week long; each week stretched on for a month. Sometime in the early spring of 2020, after people began realizing that isolation from the outside world was going to last longer than their initial assumptions, I remember reading a conscientious but melancholy tweet opining that May had already been ‘four months long’.
Chapter 37. The Battle of TempiP45XS
Unlike the Oreanians, the Parsygians maintained an imposing military battery of armed space vessels and long range missiles, the latter able to hit the ISEA ship even on its revised route out of the galaxy.
The Oreanians had no military capability. They had risen above that, they said. The mutual cooperation treaty just signed would provide orbital security for the planet in addition to security for the excavation and transport activities and personnel connected with the mining of vouronium on the surface.
The Eridanus won this particular skirmish, eventually regaining power, turning hard about and firing an energy barrage at the attacking fighter spacecraft, providing cover for the Nova 9 to return through the entry bay before the great galaxyship winged out at warp speed away from TempiP45XS.
See 4MiM Supplement #2 for an explanation of warp drive, warp engines, warp speed.
To most onboard, the approach to starbase dock was going to be a beautiful sight.
Relief and anticipation upon returning home to a familiar starbase after a long, dangerous mission were most likely common emotions for space travelers. One inspiration for this chapter was the “returning to spacedock” scene from the 1984 film, The Search for Spock.
“Anyway . . . whatever the problems and issues, no matter how duty-bound or independent we might be, we’re just going to have to attempt it.”
The idea of attempting to love someone wholeheartedly, of committing to a long-term relationship despite the risks, is alluded to in the following quote from the article, “Love Is Worth Believing In”, by Freya India, author of the Substack newsletter, Girls. Always worth reading.
"Real love is meeting someone and thinking, okay, I’m in trouble here because it’s this person and this person only. It’s looking at them and thinking God, even if love is doomed to go wrong, guess I’m going to have to attempt it now . . . Doesn’t matter how resistant or independent you are, it disarms you."
A familiar scent reached her and then she saw them: peonies, a beautiful vase of pure white peonies. Real peonies—lush, voluptuous, and blowsy. How did he do it?
Chapter 11. What Was Left Behind introduces Joanni’s love of mudan (peonies).
Chapter 39. The Harm That Will Surely Follow
She [the Primora] was seen as having been too accommodating in the signing of the mutual cooperation treaty, and too taken with the alien visitor and her strange ideology; simply too weak and open-minded. The open spaces of doubt in the Primora’s mind had become too large for others to accommodate or to tolerate.
See Chapter 29. The Transmutation of Joanni N. for the opening of the spaces in the Primora’s mind:
Her outlook and mind did broaden slightly, which the Oreanian found disturbing—it left open spaces of doubt that the rest of her beliefs knocked up against. It was painful.
Once again, turning to Nick Cave (and Warren Ellis) for musical inspiration.
Chapter 40. Message to Distant Travelers
Together, we have faced the unknown with bravery and curiosity; the future with optimism.
Finally, thanks to all who inspired Four Months in May. I will leave the last words on energy, optimism, and a future as bright and scary as the unknown to those distant travelers—the optimists, the dreamers, and the explorers. From the original Star Trek Enterprise starship and crew to the moon-landing and space-walking astronauts to the Hubble and James Webb telescopes to the SpaceX starships. To those who believe in the possibilities of the future.
Top Image: Optimism. Source: “Instructions for Aliens,” NASA/JPL-Caltech, 1977.