I had to turn in last night. There is little more to relate. Knowing that Nike and its sun are old and that the sun is variable because it has exhausted most of its hydrogen and is becoming a red giant, Tom can bring in experts who, applying the right mathematical model, will predict stellar activity, therefore forecast Nikean weather accurately, therefore enable Nikeans to protect themselves and their property against the frequent violent storms. The feudal lord who, in return for this information, will provide Tom with the materials to repair his ship, can either share the information with other states or monopolize it to become planetary Emperor but, either way, the planet will be united and will thus become able to trade with Tom's planet, Kraken.
Yasmin, who will stay behind as a hostage, says that she will make arrangements with several men but means by this that she will persuade them to help her father, the Shah, to regain his throne on Sassania. For this purpose, the Nikeans will be armed, trained and transported by Krakeners. Thus, an alliance between Kraken, Nike and Sassania - maybe the beginning of the Allied Planets which emerges two installments later? And Yasmin's use of the word "arrangements" is one last linguistic misunderstanding but this time a good one. On Nike, because of an ironic turn of phrase used by pirates, "friends to do business" had come to mean "raiders to plunder" but Tom will instead bring "camarados to 'change."
Everything works out - implausibly? - neatly. Poul Anderson's heroes are problem-solvers and, in this story, the heroine is also.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't mind, very often at least, problem solving stories where a crisis or difficulty is neatly resolved. As long as this is done in an interesting way where we see the character truly grappling with problems and coming up with reasonable solutions. My view is that Poul Anderson almost always succeeds in persuading us to suspend disbelief like that.
I think some genres of literature HAS to be like that, where we characters in stories "appearing" to solve problems too neatly. Mysteries and science fiction being the examples I had in mind.
Btw, Yasmin was not the daughter of the deposed legitimate Shah of Sassania. She was the daughter of a prominent aristocrat and vice governor serving that shah.
I like that suggestion you made, that an alliance of Kraken, Sassania, and Nike would eventually lead to the formation of the Allied Planets.
And I was amused by how PA used the story about Sir Christopher Wren and Charles II. Yes, the king used words in his gracious compliment to the architect which changed their meanings in rather astonishingly drastic ways.
Sean
Sean,
OK. I unintentionally promoted Yasmin - but she deserved it!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Oh, certainly! I agree. And Yasmin might even have been more or less distantly related to the Shah.
Sean
" On Nike, because of an ironic turn of phrase used by pirates, "friends to do business" had come to mean "raiders to plunder" "
See the late 20th century use of 'Nimrod'. The name of the mighty hunter in Genesis became an insult when Elmer Fudd got called 'poor little Nimrod'. Irony/sarcasm can change the meaning of a word when it is heard by people who don't know the original meaning.
Kaor, Jim!
I agree, words can change meanings in very strange ways. I've actually used "Nimrod" in referring to this or that person as a mighty hunter!
Ad astra! Sean
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