John Ridenour holds fact-packed conversations with:
Dietrich Steinhauer, steward's mate on the Ottokar;
Lieutenant Muhammad Sadik, pilot of a supply barge;
an Arulian prisoner of war with whom his only common language is Eriau (regular readers recognize the relevance of this);
Rikard Uriason, mayor of Domkirk, who is proud to have visited Terra and to have a daughter studying on Ansa (an unexpected and welcome future historical back-reference).
Being a civilian xenologist employed by the Imperial government can get you in anywhere.
These guys expound a lot of the background to us, e.g., Ridenour to the Arulian:
"'But... Relationships between the Terran and Merseian Empires grew more and more strained. Armed conflicts became frequent in the marches. Freehold felt threatened..." (p. 57)
- etc.
However, despite his own loquaciousness, Ridenour thinks, while listening to Uriason:
"Good Lord... I have found a man who can out-lecture me." (p. 61)
Nordyke is a pleasant little settlement, surrounding a lake, with roses and jasmine blooming in its parks and merriment brawling in its taverns. We always find new details when rereading Anderson.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And those clashes between the Empire and the Roidhunate were becoming more common because Merseia was provoking them, probing and testing to see how far it could go against Terra.
In THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND mention was made of Merseia being still a small but real long term threat. Despite being about 500 light years from Terra, maybe the Empire should have focused on neutralizing it. The Ythrian problem could have waited.
Ad astra! Sean
Hindsight.
Kaor, Paul!
Too true! Foresight always seem to be near sighted or astigmatic.
Ad astra! Sean
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