Sunday 25 February 2018

Finishing Ensign Flandry Again

Ensign Flandry has a second description of the Milky Way:

"...the specter arch of the Milky Way."
-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-192 AT Chapter Seventeen, p. 180.

In Chapter Seventeen, the point of view wanders. The chapter is mainly narrated from Flandry's pov. However, on p. 181, the omniscient narrator directly informs the reader about what has been happening in the space battle with the Terran ships, Umbriel, Murdoch's Land, Antarctica, New Brazil and Sabik and with a damaged Merseian destroyer. The captain of the destroyer decides to attack the remnant of the Sabik while his engineers sweat to repair a hyperdrive alternator. On p. 182, we are back with Flandry on the Sabik noticing that the destroyer retreats under gravitics, wondering why she doesn't go hyper and thinking maybe she can't.

Commander Ranjit Singh, the highest ranking survivor on the Sabik, not only takes command of that ship but also commands the battered, depleted fleet that at last confirms the existence of the approaching rogue planet. No one of higher rank has survived.

Time Patrol
After "Time Patrol," Manse Everard will begin Unattached training.
After "Ivory, And Apes, And Peacocks," Pummairam (Pum) will begin Time Patrol training.
After "The Year of the Ransom," Wanda Tamberly will begin Patrol training.

Technic History
After "Esau," Emil Dalmady will begin entrepreneur training.
After Ensign Flandry, Flandry will begin Intelligence training.
After The Game Of Empire, Diana, Flandry's daughter, and Targovi, Dragoika's son, (for both, see image) will begin training in trade, exploration, science, art or Intelligence, whichever they want, at Flandry's expense.

Endings and beginnings: more of them than I had expected.

Flandry asks Diana and Targovi to think hard about they really want. For how I failed to do this, see here and follow the links.

Whem Pum offers to guide Everard in ancient Tyre, he says to a competitor:

"''...I saw him first...'"
-Poul Anderson, "Ivory, And Apes, And Peacocks" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 229-331 AT p. 237.

Before Diana offers to guide the Wodenite, Axor, on the planet Imhotep, she announces in Anglic and Toborko to any possible competitor:

"'I saw him first!'"
-Poul Anderson, The Game Of Empire IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riversale, NY, 2012), pp. 189-453 AT Chapter One, p. 199.

1 comment:

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

And Commander Singh, another character seen only once in ENSIGN FLANDRY, is another person we might have liked to have seen again.

Sean