"...on Dennitza we keep no slaves...." (p. 358)
Thus, we immediately connect Kossara with the preceding conversation.
Her slave bracelet has "...a niello of letters and numbers..." (p. 357)
A "psychotech" (p. 359) studies her dossier. Does his profession have as a complete a science of humanity as the Psychotechnic Institute in Poul Anderson's earlier future history? Imagine combining scientific psychology with slavery.
Kossara was hypnoprobed on Diomedes so she is one of the Dennitzans arrested on Diomedes mentioned by Hazeltine. Her soft Dennitzan accent intrigues women prisoners from Terra, Luna and Venus. She remembers dancing and drinking with the deceased Mihail. We learn that she is guilty of treason and the niece of the Gospodar.
Are Hazeltine's suspicions of the Gospodar warranted? We learn a lot very quickly, then, usually, forget how we have learned it.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't think psychotechs in the Empire pretended to know how a society, in the mass, works. Rather their job, from context, was more like our psychologists or psychiatrists. The scholars who studied races and societies, human and non-human, were xenologists, like John Ridenour, who is seen in ENSIGN FLANDRY and "Outpost of Empire."
As for slavery, that was used in the Empire mostly as a punishment for crime. When I wrote a long letter to Poul Anderson discussing crime and punishment, he replied, in part, that he originally threw in mention of slavery merely to add some background color. And then started thinking of how and why slavery was revived. Anderson added that he came to think this was because of how certain libertarian ideas were extended or drawn out. I discussed this at greater length in my article "Crime and Punishment in the Terran Empire."
Sean
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