 The perception of human history as composed of civilizations which arise, flourish, and fall, followed by a dark age and the rise of a new civilization, was also the basis of Anderson's later future history with the Polesotechnic League followed by the Terran Empire.Specifically, the situation depicted in "Brake" - with the protagonists heroically managing to put off, but unable to prevent, the inevitable destructive collapse of their civilization - clearly foreshadows the atmosphere of the Dominic Flandry series.Reviewer Vincent Carter noted that "Like much of the Science Fiction written previous to the advent of actual space programs, Poul Anderson's early future history grossly underestimated the cost in money and material resources of even the smallest and shortest venture outside Earth's atmosphere.