"...even after he put a joke into their equivalents, they did not see why it should be funny that one diner said, "Bon appetit" and the other said, "Ginsberg." (p. 271)
Do you?
Approaching Talwin, Flandry sees:
"...two relay satellites...in positions indicating they belonged to a synchronous triad." (ibid.)
He infers that:
if there is nothing more than that, then this is "a barebones base";
but that is to be expected at the end of such a long communications line;
this base is a watchpost, depot and receiving station for intelligence from border planets;
apart from their leader, Rax, Merseian agents on Irumclaw would not know the coordinates of the Merseian base;
they would covertly dispatch courier torpedoes with a preset target;
replacements could easily be smuggled past a lax, understaffed Naval service;
also, orders could be delivered openly to Rax's dope shop.
The destroyer spirals down to avoid storms in the turbulent atmosphere. As the base becomes visible:
the smallness of the spaceport and its facilities confirms the "barebones" deduction;
the presence of several non-naval-looking buildings suggests that -
"...the Merseians have more than one interest in Talwin..." (p. 274)
On further reflection:
without some other interest, the Merseians could have found a more hospitable or better-camouflaged planet for a naval base;
the intelligence base now begins to look like an afterthought.
So far the deductions. Flandry will soon learn more.
6 comments:
It's a mildly funny joke -- I've heard a version where one person says "Gesundheit" after the other sneezes, and gets the name back. It's probably funnier if you're from a culture where multilingualism (and accompanying varied verbal 'tics') are common.
Valvert: Dolt, bumpkin, fool, insolent puppy, jobbernowl!
Cyrano (Removes his hat and bows.): Ah, yes? And I—Cyrano-Savinien-Hercule De Bergerac!
— Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac as translated by Brian Hooker
OK. (I am still having some trouble following this...)
Kaor, to All!
I too had been puzzled by the bit about "Bon appetit" and "Ginsberg." One of the more obscure allusions given us by Anderson. Mr. Stirling's comments at least clarified that, but only a little.
Ad astra! Sean
Paul:
Well, the Cyrano bit is Cyrano pretending to think all the insults Valvert hurled at him were Valvert introducing himself. So what I got out of Flandry's joke is that Ginsberg mistakenly thought the other fellow was introducing himself as "Bon Appetit." ("Appetit – Bon Appetit. Licensed to cook.")
My father used to tell a variant in which Theodore Roosevelt, camping with, among others, a Native American, came out of his tent one morning to find the fellow preparing breakfast. His response to the stereotypical native greeting of an upraised hand and "How!" was to raise his own hand and say, "Fried!"
David,
Got it!
Paul.
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