"...walked through bustling streets to the little house. Its peaked roof was gold above vine-covered walls."
-Poul Anderson, "Hunters of the Sky Cave" IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 149-301 AT XVIII, p. 298.
Inside:
"Sunlight streamed past roses in a trellis window, casting blue shadows over the warm small neatness of furnishings."
-op. cit., p. 298.
Kit dials "...the public pneumo for drinks..." (ibid.) (pneumo?)
Flandry:
"...looked through a shielding haze of smoke at roses which nodded in a mild summer wind."
-op. cit., p. 299.
The Ardazirho, reorganized as a loose federation, had fought the Merseians, then accepted the Terran Pax because it would protect their tribes from each other!
However, this is not a fairy tale ending. Flandry has visited only to say goodbye to Kit. I could not have walked out on her like that but then I would not have won her admiration or liberated her planet in the first place.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I sure as heck don't think I could possibly have done HALF of what Flandry did in WE CLAIM THESE STARS. But he was a shaper of destiny, and not content to be shaped by destiny.
As for the more personal aspect, I think Flandry's problem was his unwillingness to settle down in one place with one woman.
Sean
Paul:
I suspect PA meant "pneumo" as an abbreviated form of "pneumatic tube." From the Wikipedia article:
"Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines; also known as pneumatic tube transport or PTT) are systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum. They are used for transporting solid objects, as opposed to conventional pipelines, which transport fluids. Pneumatic tube networks gained acceptance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for offices that needed to transport small, urgent packages (such as mail, paperwork, or money) over relatively short distances (within a building, or at most, within a city). Some installations grew to great complexity, but were mostly superseded. In some settings, such as hospitals, they remain widespread and have been further extended and developed in the 21st century."
So Kit called for some drinks (in sealed containers, so they wouldn't spill) to come whooshing through the tube network from the local tavern.
David,
Thanks.
Paul.
Post a Comment