Only by closely studying the text of Poul Anderson's intricately constructed "Hiding Place" have I discovered what might be a minor discrepancy that could if necessary be explained as an error by one of the characters. The chief engineer says that the tentacle centaurs live at "'...triple gravity...'" (The Van Rijn Method, p. 579) whereas the captain later says that they "'...live under...about half again Earth's gravity.'" (p. 596) In this second conversation, it is the caterpiggles that live "'...under three Gs...'" (ibid.) and their high gravity environment is a reason for eliminating them as the zoo keepers. See previous post.
Democracy
Nicholas van Rijn treats his employees only according to their merits. Fighting Captain Torrance over a woman, he knocks out one of Torrance's teeth but then cradles the head of the fallen captain, offering brandy, and says that "'...we get [the tooth] fixed...'" (p. 602) at the next port. Shortly afterwards, he whispers:
"'Don't tell anyone or I have too many fights, but I like a brass-bound nerve like you got. When we get home, I think you transfer off this yacht to command of a training squadron. How you like that, ha?'" (pp. 602-603)
Say what you want, do what you want, punch him in the stomach (there is muscle under the fat) but, as long as you work right, you get promoted. Captain Bahadur Torrance of the planet Ramanujan is yet another character whose later career we would have followed with interest.
2 comments:
Hi, Paul!
Old Nick's boozy exuberance, noisily extravagant piety, malapropisms and mangling of Anglic, and his loud avowals of being nothing but a greedy merchant won't be to everyone's taste, but I like him! He shows himself, at heart, of being a very decent man.
Sean
Sean,
He is basically decent. If I were to have any dealings with him, it would have to be neither as an employee nor as a competitor but maybe as an academic researching the League and interviewing some of its prime movers.
Paul.
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