The Moon Maid · Chapter
Prologue explained
On Mars Day, June 10, 1967, the narrator meets a mysterious admiral in the Blue Room of the airliner Harding.
What happens
On Mars Day, June 10, 1967, the narrator meets a mysterious admiral in the Blue Room of the airliner Harding. The world celebrates both the end of centuries of war and the first message from Mars. The admiral hints at knowledge of future horrors and a strange relationship with time, agreeing to share his story on condition of anonymity.
Themes in this chapter
Reincarnation and the Illusion of Time
The admiral suggests time is a human invention and that he has lived experiences not yet occurring, hinting at a cyclical or nonlinear existence.
War, Peace, and Human Nature
The world celebrates the end of war, yet the admiral foresees future conflict, questioning humanity's ability to sustain peace.
Technology as a Tool of Destruction
Scientific advances driven by war are contrasted with the peaceful achievement of communicating with Mars.
Characters to notice
- Julian 5th
The mysterious admiral met in the Blue Room; he hints at having lived future experiences and speaks enigmatically about time.
- Norton
The narrator, who assists in the interplanetary communication project and records the admiral's story.
Key passages
“I met him in the Blue Room of the Transoceanic Liner Harding the night of Mars Day— June 10, 1967.”
The narrator first encounters the admiral on the airship Harding on Mars Day, June 10, 1967.
Establishes the setting and the date of the first message from Mars.
“The more than half-century of war that had continued almost uninterruptedly since 1914 had at last terminated in the absolute domination of the Anglo-Saxon race over all the other races of the World.”
Over fifty years of near-constant warfare ended with Anglo-Saxon global supremacy.
Describes the imagined historical backdrop of prolonged war and its conclusion.
“Do you realize that there is no such thing as Time?”
The admiral questions the reality of time as a human construct.
Introduces the theme of time as an illusion, central to the narrative.
“I shall—in two hundred years.”
The admiral cryptically says he will know the dancing woman in two centuries.
Foreshadows reincarnation or time transcendence.