"If we ever fall, they'll carry on something of what was ours."
-Poul Anderson, "Outpost of Empire" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-72 AT p. 69.
Dominic Flandry tells some Nyanzans:
"'When the Long Night comes for Terra, somebody will have to carry on. It might as well be you.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Game of Glory" IN Captain Flandry..., pp. 303-339 AT p. 339.
Ridenour thinks, "'If...'"; Flandry says, "'When...'"
On Dennitza, Flandry and his fiancee plan:
"Service...staff rather than field Intelligence...for the future, not the poor wayworn Empire but a world he too could believe in, the world of their own blood."
-Poul Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (New York, 2012), p. 543.
-copied from here.
Which planets do survive the Fall of the Empire? See What Survives.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, I noticed how Ridenour used "if" while the more pessimistic Flandry said "when." But, the rebellious contrarian in me asks: does Terra have to fall? Is it inevitable for the Long Night to over take the Empire? Yes, I know that is what happened, but I still wanted to pose such questions. And, even Flandry, at the very end of THE GAME OF EMPIRE, gives us a tiny bit of hope. In Chapter 23, as Flandry was discussing how the Imperium would handle the former Magnusson rebels we read: "Pardons, amnesties, and limited penalties are going to be the order of the day. They must, if we want to shore up this social structure of ours so it might last another century or two." Here we see Flandry expressing guarded hope the Empire might survive as long as two more centuries.
You've quoted Ridenour and Flandry on their fears for the future of the Empire, here's another comment on the same theme by Flandry from Chapter VIII of WE CLAIM THESE STARS: "You frontier people are the healthy ones. You'll be around--most of you--long after the Empire is a fireside legend. I envy you that." And Kossara's thought about the "poor way-worn Empire" indicates compassion, not contempt for Terra.
Sean
Sean,
Flandry says that to a Vixenite and we know that there is a "New Vixen" long after the Empire.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I remember that, it was in THE NIGHT FACE, the only post-Imperial Technic novel Anderson wrote. And I think there was a passing mention of the Empire in that story.
But one of the points to keep in mind about THE NIGHT FACE is that Gwydion, the planet in that tale, is not inhabited by people with a strong, healthy society.
Sean
Sean,
Daven Laure of the Commonalty is a New Vixenite.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And the people of New Vixen descended from people who certainly did remember the Empire, even thousands of years after WE CLAIM THESE STARS. Hence Daven's mentioning of not only the Empire but of the Polesotechnic League.
Hmmm, is "Daven" supposed to make us think of "David"? If so, that would be another point of contact with the past.
Sean
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