"A radio beam sprang forth. At its baud rate, it bore the work and discoveries of half a planetary day across in less than a minute." (LIII, p. 297)
I thought that "baud" was a misprint for "band" but it turns out to have a technical meaning.
We realize why Poul Anderson described spaceship Hulda landing by falling protected by its forcefield. It can survive ramming another ship in the same way. (Addendum: The forcefield had also enabled Hulda to survive a collision with an asteroid in XLIV, pp. 248-249.) We also learn what all the archaisms have led up to. A Shakespearean reference makes a life or death difference when used as a secret code.
Hebo's archaisms are part of his distinctive communication technique like van Rijn's malapropisms. The next project might be a tad tedious blogger-wise although hopefully not also readers-wise: to reread Hebo-Lissa dialogues narrated from Lissa's pov to find and assess all the archaisms.
Tomorrow is another day.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The works of Shakespeare are inevitably becoming more and more "archaic" to English speakers now because of how steadily increasing changes in the language is making Jacobean English more and more like a different language. Another century or so and Shakespeare's plays and poems will probably have to be translated into whatever English has become by then.
Sean
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