Flandry to Abrams, when asked if he is telling the latter his business:
"'No, sir. Certainly not. I - I've got plenty of respect for you.' The idea flamed. 'Sir! You do have more information than you admit! A pipeline to -'
"'Shut up.'" (p. 49)
A pipeline to where? And how has Flandry deduced this? Abrams tells Flandry to keep shut up, checks that none of his team have noticed anything, then says:
"'Son...you surprise me. You really do. You're wasted among those flyboys. Ever considered transferring to the spyboys?'" (ibid.)
A career is changing direction. And that sentence: "The idea flamed..." is a classic Andersonian moment of realization. I am unlikely to find them all because there will be some in uncollected and unrepublished short stories.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, this was a classic Andersonian moment of realization on the young Flandry's part.
Hmmm, even if Flandry had not transferred to Naval Intelligence, but remained in the regular fighting branch, I think his abilities would eventually cause him to rise very high there, up to at least fleet admiral rank.
And your last comment reminded me of my article discussing and listing SOME of the uncollected works of Poul Anderson. Frustrating, how many articles and stories by Anderson has STILL not yet been tracked down and collected/republished!
Ad astra! Sean
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