Poul Anderson, Harvest Of Stars, 19.
Download Guthrie and Kyra Davis on the run are escorted by a hired gunjin, Nero Valencia, who thinks smart: a bright red sports car is conspicuous but unlikely to carry fugitives. (The car seats mold themselves to relax driver and passenger.) Valencia says:
"'You don't need to know where the brotherhood's local car pool is, Pilot Davis...'" (p. 178)
Sure but I don't want too much of the novel to be taken up with the details of clandestine activity.
Valencia thinks smart again. They will stopped at a roadblock. Download Guthrie is hidden, in a car used for smuggling, but the police will sense Kyra's nervousness - unless he and she quickly do something to account for her being "'...flustered and out of breath.'" (p. 182) It works. A big experience chases out smaller concerns.
This passage parallels the part of Julian May's Jack The Bodiless that I am currently co-reading. Characters in a futuristic vehicle need to evade the authorities.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And we see a good deal of Portland, OR in Stirling's Emberverse series!
NERO Valencia? That reminded me of the US mystery writer Rex Stout's portly detective (who would rival Nicholas van Rijn's gourmandizing) Nero Wolfe.
Dang, you are also rereading Julian May's PLIOCENE/MILIEU books. It's so hard to keep up with you! (Smiles)
I did finish rereading THE ROAD OF THE SEA HORSE on Friday. Next comes THE SIGN OF THE RAVEN, vol. 3 of Anderson's retelling of the saga of King Harald Hardrede.
Sean
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