Comparing the Double Kingdom and Kolresh to the elephant and the whale (see here), Rusch argues that the two together, foot soldiers and space nomads, can conquer Earth. He is practicing a massive deception but why can he not take Queen Ingra into his confidence?
Apparently a mutation makes peace with Kolresh impossible. Maybe we will learn more about this as we (re)read further?
"A wind sighed over the slow thunder on the beach. A line of sea birds crossed the sky, thin and black against glowing bronze." (p. 169)
Three senses. Slightly earlier:
"...the copper spires of the little palace reached up to the evening star and the hours-long sunset of Ostarik blazed gold across great quiet waters." (p. 164)
References to the evening star always evoke peace even though this is not the evening star of Earth.
"He found a bench on the glistening edge of the strand, and sat down and looked across a steady march of surf, turned to molten gold by the low sun and the incandescent western clouds." (p. 167)
Space opera but with lyrical passages.
When Unduma returns to Earth, we learn that the towers of Capital City rear above the Zambesi River, that not Anglic but Tierrans is spoken, that the Premier of the Federation Parliament is Ngu Chilongo and that the Minister of Defence is Mustafa Lefarge. As in his stories where Sweden is the dominant world power, Anderson sets out to confound his readers' expectations.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Once you pointed it out, I too was puzzled over why Margrave Hans did not reveal to the Queen Regent that he was trying to DECEIVE Kolresh, not enter into a genuine alliance with their ancient enemy. One possibility I thought was that the Margrave wanted the Queen Mother to be genuinely angry and disgusted with the "alliance." To convince Kolreshite spies the Margrave meant what he was proposing, in the teeth of fierce opposition from his own people. Hans might have thought the Queen would not have been able to convincingly dissemble, to play a role.
Sean
Sean,
That's it.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Thanks! At least my suggestion rationalizes what otherwise might have been a weak point in the story, "saving the appearances."
Sean
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