The Planet Gimli
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The Planet Gimli
"Gerd, this has happened on other Class-IV planets we've moved in on. We give
the natives a reservation; we tell them it'll be theirs forever, Terran's word of honor.
Then we find something valuable on it—gold on Loki, platinum on Thor, vanadium
and wolfram on Hathor, nitrates on Yggdrasil, uranium on Gimli. So the natives get
shoved off onto another reservation, where there isn't anything anybody wants, and
finally they just get shoved off, period." — Jack Holloway, Fuzzy Sapiens, 654 AE
Although the planet Gimli is never featured centrally in any of H. Beam Piper's Terrohuman Future History yarns, it is nevertheless one of the more important worlds in both the Federation and Space Viking eras and survives even into the era of the first Galactic Empire. In the novel Four-Day Planet, set in the Fourth Century of the Atomic Era, we learn that Gimli is the next world out from Fenris on the regular trade route between Terra and Odin and that the Federation Navy maintains a base on Gimli.
In the Seventh Century, Atomic Era, novels Fuzzy Sapiens (originally published under the misleading title The Other Human Race) and Fuzzies and Other People we learn that there is a native race of sapient beings on Gimli (although we are given virtually no details about the physiology or culture of these natives). A Chartered Company in this era has secured uranium mining concessions on Gimli, leading to the displacement of natives from their original reservation lands.
In the Space Viking era Gimli is a "trade planet" of Marduk, with a regular trade route between the two worlds (recalling the Federation era when Gimli lay on the Terra-Odin trade route). Loyalist Mardukan naval forces marshal at Gimli before being led by Prince-Protector Simon Bentrik against Makannist forces in the Battle of Marduk. It may be that there is a Royal Mardukan Navy base on Gimli, perhaps using facilities that survive from naval base of the Federation era.
During the first Galactic Empire, in the 31st Century of the Atomic Era, we learn that there is a university on Gimli and that while Gimli is seen as something of a provincial world from the perspective of the Imperial capital at Odin the university there is apparently well-regarded by the Emperor.
Gimli is a term from Norse mythology and refers to a great hall with a golden roof which is "fairer than the sun" where the most virtuous humans and gods will go in the aftermath of the final battle between the gods (Ragnarok). It is a paradise or heaven of sorts. The Norse name for Gimli suggests it must have been discovered early in the era of Federation interstellar exploration when Norse mythology was the first source for world names authorized by the Federation Astrographic Commission. Because Gimli refers to a mythic place rather than to a deity we might assume that it was not among the first interstellar worlds discovered by the Federation, instead perhaps being discovered after worlds like Odin, Loki, Freya, and Thor (and perhaps about the same time as Yggdrasil, named for another Norse mythic place).
If Gimli is closer to Terra than is Odin, as is suggested by the fact that Gimli lies between Terra and Odin on the Federation-era Terra-Odin transport route, it would be expected that Gimli was discovered prior to the discovery of Odin. But since Odin is a more important world than Gimli in the Federation era this suggests Gimli was settled after Odin, most likely because it was a less-attractive settlement choice. Gimli may have been less-attractive due to its native sentient race or perhaps because its ecosphere seemed less-attractive, at least to astrographic surveyors observing it at interstellar distances. But if Gimli was actually discovered prior to the discovery of Odin, but not settled until after the settlement of Odin due to the native, sentient race on Gimli, it would seem reasonable to expect that the world would have been named for a Norse deity, rather than for a mythic place. Thus, the reasonable conclusion is that Gimli was discovered (and settled) after the discovery of Odin and therefore that Gimli's ecosphere, while habitable, is somewhat less-attractive than that of Odin (at least as observed from interstellar distances).
The time to travel from Gimli to Marduk is 350 hours or 350 light-years in distance. [1963e, p. 223]. (This contradicts the 250 light-year distance provided in Fuzzy Sapiens. [1964a, pp. 150, 193]) The distance from Gimli to Tanith is about 450 light-years. [1963e, p. 219]
Gimli is also the closest inhabited planet to Zarathustra in the Federation era. [1964a, p. 136]. Travel time from Gimli to Zarathustra is about two months. [1964a, p. 120] That equates to about 170 light-years given the "500 light-years in six months" hyperdrive speeds of this era. [1964a, pp. 6, 231] In this era Marduk is apparently the closest major world to Gimli. [1964a, p. 150] Marduk is about three months away from Gimli by hyperdrive speeds of the era (or about 250 light-years). [1964a pp. 150, 193]. (This contradicts the 350 light-year distance provided in Space Viking. [1963e, p. 223]) The first stop toward Terra on the "Terra-Baldur-Marduk" transport route in the Federation era is Volund. [1984a, p. 210]
References:
- Piper, H. Beam, 1958b. "Ministry of Disturbance," in Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. LXII, No. 4, December 1958, pp. 8-46.
- Piper, H. Beam, 1961. Four-Day Planet, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
- Piper, H. Beam, 1962d. Space Viking (part one), in Analog Science Fact—Science Fiction, Vol. LXX, No. 3, November 1962, pp. 6-52.
- Piper, H. Beam, 1962e. Space Viking (part two), in Analog Science Fact—Science Fiction, Vol. LXX, No. 4, December 1962, pp. 104-146.
- Piper, H. Beam, 1963a. Space Viking (part three), in Analog Science Fact—Science Fiction, Vol. LXX, No. 5, January 1963, pp. 111-55.
- Piper, H. Beam, 1963b. Space Viking (part four), in Analog Science Fact—Science Fiction, Vol. LXX, No. 6, February 1963, pp. 120-162.
- Piper, H. Beam, 1963e. Space Viking, H. Beam Piper, New York: Ace (F-225).
- Piper, H. Beam, 1964a. The Other Human Race, New York: Avon (G1220).
- Piper, H. Beam, 1979. Four-Day Planet, in Four-Day Planet and Lone Star Planet, New York: Ace
- Piper, H. Beam, 1984a. Fuzzies and Other People, New York: Ace.