The trader team has landed clandestinely on the occupied planet, Hermes, but their descending craft was detected and they are now being sought by men flying with "'...impellers.'" (XV, p. 211) Adzel offers to decoy them but:
"Intelligence slammed back into Falkayn like sword into sheath. 'Sunblaze!' he cried. 'Turn that notion inside out.'" (p. 212)
He orders Adzel to stay and Chee to come with him and says that he will explain as they run. Here are all the ingredients of an Andersonian moment of realization:
a practical problem;
a sudden realization of the solution;
deferment of the explanation until after the event.
"...sword into sheath..." is an apt comparison.
Before that, Falkayn wonders whether Hermes is still his home or whether he has roamed away from it too much. With the benefit of having already read the whole series, we know that Falkayn's career comprises:
a good upbringing on Hermes;
a lot of interstellar roaming for Nicholas van Rijn;
eventually, making a new home on the planet, Avalon.
Enviable.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Anderson might also have written: "Intelligence flamed in Falkayn's mind like a sword flashing out of its sheath."
Yes, after more than thirty years away from Hermes (aside from brief visits?) it was reasonable of Falkayn to wonder if he could still think of that planet as home.
Sean
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