Gunli, yours was greatest.'"
-Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 267.
I thought that it was appropriate to quote the concluding lines of Dominic Flandry's alliterative verse to Queen Gunli - but we must move on to Sviffash of Sithafar.
He is a "...herpetoid..." (p. 268) and I cannot find this word anywhere. He has a tail, bowed legs, fanged jaws, lidless black eyes and a flickering tongue. The Scothani treat Sviffash's people badly and Flandry tells him, truthfully for once!, that the Terran Empire treats its subjects decently, if only because the Imperials have learned that the alternative is counterproductive. (We do know of exceptions, of course.) Sithafar might be an ally rather than a client or even just left in its extra-Imperial independence.
Sviffash can contact the Empire and other potential rebels who are known to Flandry but must spare Scotha because the rebellion will have Scothan allies, not only power-seeking nobles but also Ilrian nationalists secretly helped by Queen Gunli. Everything is coming together. Flandry does not mention, because it is not relevant here, rival claimants for the Frithian throne who, if they are fighting among themselves, will not be able to resist the rebellion when it comes from Ilria, from within Frithia and from off-planet - not to mention an approaching Terran fleet, but Flandry has not quite organized that yet when speaking to Sviffash.
4 comments:
Hi, Paul!
The word "herpetoid" means of, like, or pertaining to reptiles and/or amphibians. In this context it's applied to intelligent races which are true reptiles.
Sean
Thank you.
One of the nice touches is that a lot of what Flandry tells the Scothian nobles is true... it's just incomplete, or they can't see the implications. It's their own lack of long-term thinking that trips them up.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
And Flandry made exactly that point, the inability of the Scothanians to think long term, further than their own short sighted personal gain.
Sean
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