Star Light - Themes

Themes

The main theme revolves around hard science, particularly the physics and thermodynamics of mixtures. While water should be in the form of ice at all times on Dhrawn, the effect of ammonia in the atmosphere is to cause it to become a liquid under certain conditions of temperature and pressure, because of the formation of a eutectic mixture which melts and freezes at a much lower temperature than water. Although the scientists on the satellite attempt to supply weather forecasts for the Mesklinites, they are using tools designed for Earth's weather to predict conditions in a two-component water/ammonia system instead of Earth's one-component system. Even local effects, such as liberation of latent heat from mixtures undergoing freezing or condensation, can produce drastic changes in conditions. Seemingly solid surfaces can liquefy under the pressure of the land cruisers, even as individual Mesklinites can walk on them in complete safety.

To some extent, the narrative is much weakened by the focus on the science. There are long passages of exposition intended to show both what can go wrong in a seemingly well-understood situation, and how individual ingenuity and perseverance can overcome problems. The human characters seem made-up and lacking in depth, simply being people with extraordinary abilities trying to deal with a situation where they are getting information that is late and, they later realize, unreliable.

The novel posits that full disclosure is best in a situation where unpredictable changes can occur. Ib Hoffman relates the story of how his son Benj, at the age of thirteen, designed and built SCUBA equipment, carefully calculating all the parameters, only to come close to dying on his first dive because he lacked a crucial piece of information about the physiology of breathing, one which all his knowledge of physics and engineering could not have predicted.