Challenge 884

Where Off Earth...?

In Bill Kowaleski’s Divide and Conquer, Salesman-Drake explains that Cygnians are offering to trade technology for minerals:
1. The Cygnians can access planets in the “altverse,” which is explained in the Epilogue. Even so, why might it be convenient for the Cygnians to trade fusion power and other technology for ore and mineral processing on Earth?
2. How might the economy of Earth be reshaped by the trade arrangement with the Cygnians? Is the exchange equitable?
3. Teleportation between planets and altverses is more convenient than using spaceships. How is it also convenient as a dramatic device?
In Harrison Kim’s Solstice in the City, what does the narrator, Jackson, mean by “You’re not going to pull me in”?
In Charles C. Cole’s The Gatekeeper, why do depictions of Heaven always seem so lifelike? Is Heaven a place or a state of mind?
In James Penha’s Filling Station, how much is historically accurate?
In Boris Kokotov’s Auld Acquaintance: What “book” has the bibliophile read? The Bible? Yes, assuredly, but is it the only one? Might not all of history be considered a book in a large sense?