"Honorable Enemies" is the fourth of six works collected in Captain Flandry... which is Volume V (of VII) in Baen Book's The Technic Civilization Saga, compiled by Hank Davis. The Saga is the first complete collection of Poul Anderson's major future history series, the History of Technic Civilization.
"Honorable Enemies" was the second work by Poul Anderson to feature his hero, Dominic Flandry, and the first to feature the continuing villain, Aycharaych. Nevertheless, if we have read the Saga consecutively, then we have already encountered Flandry in the three later written novels collected as Volume IV and also Aycharaych in one novel collected earlier in Volume V.
Reading the series in this chronological order of fictitious events brings home the "unexpected contradiction" noticed by Sean M. Brooks. See here. Aycharaych is a Chereionite. In The Day Of Their Return, the novel that retroactively introduces Aycharaych, Commissioner Desai realizes that this Chereionite, and therefore probably other members of that species, has unique telepathic abilities and that the Merseians are:
"'...giving away to us the fact that the Roidhunate includes such a species, putting us on our guard against more like him. No competent Intelligence service would allow that for anything less than the highest stakes."
-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Captain Flandry.., pp. 74-238 AT p. 189.
Yet, in "Honorable Enemies," when Flandry meets Aycharaych and knows somewhat of the ancient planet of Chereion, he is surprised and shocked to find out the hard way that Aycharaych is a, theoretically impossible, universal telepath. When an sf fan spots a prima facie contradiction, it is his duty or responsibility to try to resolve it and Sean succeeds admirably. Read his article at the above link.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Thanks for the flattering mention of both myself and my article "An Unexpected Contradiction." I'm still surprised no one else seems to have noticed the contradiction when comparing the use made of Aycharaych in THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN with "Honorable Enemies." I suggested one reason for the contradiction while a friend who wished to remain anonymous added another, which I incorporated in that note.
Sean
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