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They came, by what means he did not know, from outside, the vast abstraction that none of them had ever seen. He had a mental picture of a starry void in which men and monsters swam or battled, and then swiftly erased it. Such ideas did not conform with the quiet behavior of his companions; if they never spoke about outside, did they think about it?
— Brian Aldiss
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "They came, by what means he did not know, from outside, the vast abstraction that none of them had ever seen. He had a mental picture of a starry void in which men and monsters swam or battled, and then swiftly erased it. Such ideas did not conform with the quiet behavior of his companions; if they never spoke about outside, did they think about it?" in the context of "" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source:
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss (August 18, 1925 – August 19, 2017) was an English writer of general fiction and science fiction.
About Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss (August 18, 1925 – August 19, 2017) was an English writer of general fiction and science fiction.
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