Details And Dishonesties

We do not notice as Poul Anderson carefully plants narrative details that will be crucial later. Arinnian and Eyath travel to visit Hrill and Draun in a flitter because it would be too far for his gravbelt or her wings but why does he tell her that, "'The flitter's spaceable -'" (Rise Of The Terran Empire, p. 591)?

Because the reader needs to know. But why do we need to know that? And why should a small vehicle used for atmospheric flight also be capable of interplanetary travel? Because Arinnian plans to feed disinformation to a prisoner, then to let that prisoner escape in the carelessly unguarded flitter and rejoin the Terran fleet. Genuine defectors will also be allowed to leave Avalon with the same misleading intelligence.

I am glad that I am not involved in waging a war. It involves not only death and destruction but also dishonesty, duplicity and double-dealing on an industrial scale.

Another detail: Hrill has sex with the prisoner, who is her house guest, Philippe Rochefort. Arinnian travels happily to visit Hrill, then sees her holding hands with the Terran. Now Arinnian is indeed happy to have Rochefort lied to and induced to leave but Hrill is not. Draun just wants to kill Terrans. ("Terrans," of course, do not include human Avalonians.) Then Rochefort inadvertantly informs Eyath that her fiancee was killed by friendly fire...

And, because of the nature of Ythrian sexuality, that will lead to a situation between Draun and Eyath that will make mortal enemies of Arinnian and Draun. Five characters of two species; endless conflicts and complexities.