I am now signing off until maybe the second week in January.
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
On Vixen
Delay
I hope that everyone has a good Christmas and New Year.
"A new year offers new hope."
"Tiger by the Tail," p. 267 -
- even on another planet.
By 8 January, I will have passed a birthday and will in that sense be a year older.
My favourite catchphrase from the Technic History:
"High is heaven and holy."
Special Relationship II
The special relationship continues at the banquet for the hunting party although again we are given only a summary. Flandry:
"...found [relaxation] not in the orgiastic amusements offered, but in discourse with Aycharaych. The talk had had nothing to do with the conflict between them; mostly it had been about ancient history, both Terran and Merseian, and utterly fascinating. He could almost forget that the great mind before him had no need of his speech." (pp. 289-290)
Aycharaych reads Flandry's surface thoughts but does not gather much military intelligence if Flandry keeps his attention focused on ancient history. Even more fascinating would be the ancient history of Chereion but that remains shrouded in mystery. Aycharaych divulges some information to Erranath on Aeneas and Axor is trying to learn more at the end of the last Flandry period volume.
Aline says that Terra will need to develop a thought-screening helmet. Flandry wears such a helmet in two subsequent instalments.
Flandry and Aycharaych meet for the first time in "Honorable Enemies" and their special relationship is firmly established by the end of this story when Aycharaych says:
"'There will be more tomorrows. Tonight let us enjoy our truce." (p. 302)
Border Clashes
at Jihannath while Flandry is busy in Sector Alpha Crucis;
at Syrax while Flandry is busy on Vixen;
near the Patrician System while Flandry is back on Terra,
Apparently, this kind of border conflict is frequent:
"Terra and Merseia were at peace, were they not? - however many beings died and cities burned on the marches."
-"Honorable Enemies," p. 284.
Flandry leads a raid into the Merseian Roidhunate to bombard Aycharaych's home planet, Chereion.
Why Betelgeuse Matters
"Squarely between the two domains, its navy commanding the most direct route and in a position to strike at the heart of either, Betelgeuse would be an invaluable ally." (p. 282)
Betelgeuse as an ally of Merseia would probably presage an all-out attack on Terra. But, if that is the case, then it is surprising that we do not hear more about Betelgeuse. That single sentence quoted above suggests that all-out war is all too probable soon. If not Betelgeuse, then might somewhere else in the Wilderness, unknown to the Terrans, provide a suitable launching pad? According to Aycharaych in "Hunters of the Sky Cave," the Merseian High Command does project what sounds to me like a very early Fall of Terra.
Special Relationship
The friendship or special relationship between Flandry and Aycharaych begins when they converse while awaiting the start of the dragon hunt on Alfzar. In the case of two later conversations, in the Crystal Moon and on Talwin, we read some substantial dialogue between these two characters whereas, on this initial occasion, after some opening remarks about hunting and about the local dragons, which are the game to be hunted, we read only a summary:
"The conversation became animated, ranging over the peculiarities and mysteries of many intelligent races. When the final horn blew its summons, Terran and Chereionite exchanged a wryly regretful glance. Too bad. We were enjoying this. Too bad also that we're on opposite sides...isn't it?" (p. 285)
A film would probably show just a brief shot from a distance of two figures conversing animatedly but the opportunity would exist for a script writer to invent something interesting. We already know of several planers and intelligent species that Flandry would be able to mention.
Monday, 9 December 2024
In Flandry's Day
"In Flandry's day, [the Betelgeuseans'] political position was also one he often wished his own people could occupy." (p.282)
That phase, "In Flandry's day...," generates the impression, if only momentarily, that this story is being narrated in a later period. But who is the narrator and what might we be told of that later period? We read on hoping to learn more although nothing further is said to this effect. We know that we are reading a future history series but it will be a long time before we pass beyond Dominic Flandry's lifetime.
This is the opposite of the narrative mode in Robert Heinlein's Future History, Volume II, The Green Hills Of Earth. In some of these stories, the narrator addresses his readers as fellow members of society living at the time when the stories are set. He reminds them of recent innovations in the orbital arrangements for Earth-Moon travel and also of their knowledge of the words of Rhysling's songs. There is no longer historical perspective.
Heinlein's Future History is sound and substantial but Poul Anderson's Technic History goes way beyond it.
An Offensive Act
At last, Dominic Flandry, still a "Captain," meets a being whom, if we have been reading consecutively, we recognize as Aycharaych of Chereion before he is named. By now, Flandry knows of Aycharaych's reputation. Their dialogue includes -
Flandry: "'No offence meant.'" (p. 277)
Aycharaych: "'And none taken.'" (p. 278)
It was pointed to me and other students in a Philosophy tutorial that we are not exactly free to say, "No offence meant," whenever we like. The tutor gave an example in which he introduces someone by saying, "This is Smith. His mother swims after troop ships. Oh, no offense, old chap!" Speech is a social act and we are responsible for its implications and consequences, unlike Humpty Dumpty who claimed that a word meant whatever he said it meant.
Flandry's "No offence meant" is flippant in the circumstances since Aycharaych the telepath has just caught him burgling the Merseian delegation's guest quarters on Alfzar. The burgling is a professional act but nevertheless surely is offensive enough by anyone's standards.
Then And Now
"Mobs howled and roiled in the streets of Iuthagar. Here and there, houses burned. No government remained to control horror and anger." (p. 272)
That sounds like some events on Earth right now. We are in the Chaos before the emergence of Technic civilization - or before whatever is going to emerge in our timeline. The people of a region can take a hand in public affairs and surprise everyone - although, in the current case, it is a sectarian army that has come, apparently, out of nowhere. This post will seem dated if it is reread ten years hence.
We have not yet definitely diverged from the course of events that would lead to Technic civilization although we soon will do. Whenever the moment of divergence comes, the alternative history that would have led to van Rijn and Flandry will contain some of the same events and/or kinds of events that we are experiencing now: conflict and chaos.
Wind Booms On Scotha
"Wind boomed around the highest tower, chill and thrusting;..." (p. 275)
Events have been turbulent on Scotha. However, this opening sentence of the concluding narrative passage continues:
"...but save for tatters of cloud, the sky was blue with afternoon." (ibid.)
In other words, with a few exceptions, events are now moving towards peace and calm.
In Poul Anderson's works, the weather in general and the wind in particular always reflect and express what is happening to and between his characters. Wind can boom or shrill - or soothe or caress.
There is more to be said about this story than we have said this time but searching this blog will reveal earlier relevant posts.
A later instalment demonstrates that the Scothani, unknown before this story, will be integrated into the Terran Empire. Flandry not only delays Imperial decline but also temporarily strengthens the Empire.
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