"Among Thieves"

Of course I had misremembered some of the details in the Poul Anderson short story that I was trying to identify here. There was a mutiny but it was of allies against allies, not of subordinates against their masters. Other details, a mutation in human motivation and political power in Africa, were correct. On further reflection, I remembered that the story in question had been the last in a Mayflower Dell paperback. Returning to the shelves, I found only one such paperback for Poul Anderson, Strangers From Earth, and examined its last story with greater care. The title, "Among Thieves," had not seemed relevant and indeed I had thought that it was one of the three Wing Alak stories but it is not. It is the story in question.

Our present project is to reread some non-series Poul Anderson short stories that occupy the same "imaginative space," or whatever we want to call it, as his Technic History: FTL space travel; extra-solar colonies, interstellar civilization. So far, there are three stories on the agenda:

"The Longest Voyage"

"High Treason"

"Among Thieves"

In the Technic History, the Solar Commonwealth, then the Terran Empire, lead Technic civilization and English has become Anglic. In "Among Thieves," the Terran Federation leads "Civilization" (capitalized), Schakspier is Old Anglic and Terrans speak Tierrans. 

The Terran Empire is ruled from Archopolis somewhere on a fully urbanized Terra whereas the Terran Federation in "Among Thieves" is ruled from Capital City by the Zambesi River where each slim tower is surrounded by its own park.

We observe variations on similar ideas.

(Afrikaans: Tierrans.)