The chief intelligence officer instructed the Merseian agents on Irumclaw to watch Flandry. They in their turn discovered that Flandry was illegally scouting the valuable lost planet, Wayland, for the criminal, Leon Ammon, and, acting on their own initiative, which should be rewarded, they apprehended Flandry for the Merseians through the agency of Djana.
Morioch relates this to Ydwyr who has heard of Flandry. Morioch thinks that it is too big a coincidence that Flandry of all people went to the lost planet whereas Ydwyr thinks that it was in character for him to do so. Morioch wants to interrogate Flandry but Ydwyr takes Flandry and Djana into his custody. The plot thickens.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Ydwyr the Seeker was right about Flandry's CHARACTER. That is, Flandry was a bold young man willing to take chances and risks. He was a SHAPER of destiny, not content to be merely passively shaped by fate.
Sean
In "Hunters of the Sky Cave" and some of the earlier Technic stories, it's noted how hard it is for even an intelligent human (or alien) to get a nuanced, intuitive feel for alien (or human) personalities -- they tend to see each other as stereotypes, or to see only those aspects of their personalities which are comprehensible in human terms (and to humans from Technic civilization at that).
Even cultural differences, without a gap between species, can produce that effect. A friend of mine who grew up in Mexico remembers that when her American brother was visiting, he immediately stood out even though he spoke perfect idiomatic Mexican Spanish, because he -walked- differently. (Americans "bounce" more when they stride, while Mexicans keep their feet closer to the ground). Her friends would comment on how odd it looked.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
No argument, I agree it will be difficult for humans (and probably non humans) "to get a nuanced intuitive feel for alien (or human) personalities....," etc. And that problem can happen within different cultures of a single race. I think both training and frequent contact with persons of different species, as we see in the Technic stories, will ameliorate some of those difficulties.
Sean
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