Rusch allied with Kolresh in order to get his men into the Kolreshite ships where, at a prearranged time, they could be ordered to slaughter the Kolresh. Unduma thinks that the defeated Kolresh can be rehabilitated. Rusch doubts that. So do I, from the way they have been described. With unmutated human beings, attitudes can be changed in a single generation but we have been told that, because of a genetic change, not just a social system, it is normal for the Kolresh to hate outsiders.
"Rusch got out of his chair. The winter night howled at his back." (p. 189)
It is characteristic of Anderson to refer to the weather at such moments as if it comments on human affairs. The howling winter wind expresses the centuries of conflict that have molded Rusch and also the combat that still continues as his men suffer extraordinary losses, as many casualities as in ten years of ordinary war, in order to put a final end to the Kolreshite threat.
Now Earth will demilitarize and "Civilize" the Double Kingdom but the need for its high level of militarization is being ended. What will happen next in this timeline? As ever, we can know the history only so far.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I share yours and the Margrave's skepticism on whether any surviving Kolreshites can be "rehabilitated."
Sean
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