Friday 21 October 2016

How Van Rijn Conducts Business

He is lounging in the solarium of his mansion in Delfinburg. See here.

(i) Ten parsecs away, a king burns Solar plantations so van Rijn authorizes the hiring of mercenaries from Diomedes. We have been there with van Rijn.

(ii) Van Rijn communicates with a nonhuman factor in whistles and quavers and thinks that he might promote him to sector chief. We learn that van Rijn speaks ten to fifteen languages well and twenty to thirty badly. He claims to speak Anglic best! Well, he always makes himself understood so maybe this claim is correct.

(iii) A direct call with Priority Two interrupts business. A scrambled beam leaves a moving spaceship, penetrates atmosphere and locks on to the single station that can unscramble and relay. Adzel and Chee Lan report the disappearance of David Falkayn. Business - and life - have got serious.

4 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And we both know how badly Old Nick mangles Anglic! But, as David pointed out, that was probably just for show at first, and then became a habit. Anyone who can speak as many languages as Old Nick and plagiarize some of Shakespeare's poetry into an alien language could speak perfect Anglic if he chose!

Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I've done some preliminary work on my latest article, tentatively titled "The Dating of SATAN'S WORLD." But I can't promise WHEN I will have a finished text to send you.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Very good!
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

My procedure is to work out a complete first draft and then to spend some time thinking it over and making whatever revisions are desirable. I'm still in that first stage.

Thanks! Sean