Monday, 4 March 2019

Sherrinford Versus The Outlings

Poul Anderson, New America, "The Queen of Air and Darkness."

Traveling deep into what he suspects is enemy territory, Sherrinford protects his and Barbro's camper bus with a force field against telepathic influence. (p. 189) He tells Barbro that it might be inadvisable for him to articulate his hypotheses as yet but he discusses this outside the bus where they are overheard by the eavesdropping Mistherd so would it not have been more advisable to discuss inside?

Mistherd is accompanied by Nagrim, a strong, scaly, four-armed "nicor," (p. 188) and Morgarel, a floating "wraith" (p. 188) who can sense and send thoughts and cast illusions. Meanwhile, Sherrinford hypothesizes that the natives have developed the biological sciences, including potentialities within nervous systems.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I could be Machiavellian and wondered if Sherringford talked so freely outside the camper bus precisely because he hoped someone like Mistherd would over hear him, in order to sow doubt about the wisdom and benevolence of the Queen.

Sean