"'I am beaten not by a superior brain or a higher justice, but by the brute fact that you are from a larger planet than I and thus have stronger muscles. It will not be easy to fit this into a harmonious reality.'"
-Poul Anderson, "Hunters of the Sky Cave" IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 149-231 AT XVII, p. 297.
Why should reality be harmonious? The brute facts of randomness and of natural selection preceded and still encompass both intelligence and moral judgment. Aycharaych was closer to the mark when he said:
"'The totality of existence will always elude us: and in that mystery lies the very meaning.'"
-op. cit., p. 295.
Mystery transcends any discerned or imagined harmony.
Thinking that he is about to "complete" Flandry's life, Aycharaych says that he will miss him. Holmes missed Moriarty.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I recall how Sandra Miesel called Aycharaych's "the galaxy's subtlest sadist" (quoting from memory). The utterly ruthless yet dispassionate ways used by Aycharaych for advancing his ends would fit that line from Miesel.
Sean
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