When, in "The Master Key," the narrator has sampled a Cainite herb, van Rijn explains (or, rather, rumbles around a cigar):
"'The chemicals we have not yet understood and synthesized...'" (p. 279)
Is SSL trying to synthesize the chemicals? That would mean no longer importing the herb from Cain. A lot of Polesotechnic League business is conducted on the basis that it is cheaper to transport various products across interstellar distances than to synthesize them at home.
It is good to be reminded that scientists may have samples of a substance yet remain unable to determine its molecular structure quickly or easily. Van Rijn berates his chemists for playing games all day with laboratory alcohol but, of course, he has employed those particular chemists precisely because he knows that they want to understand any samples that are brought to them and will give him an answer if anyone can.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And we also know, never mind Old Nick's ostentatious lamentations, that he doesn't mind the people who work for him having some fun, outside "office hours"!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Even inside office hours provided they get the work done. He says this in "Hiding Place."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That too! Nicholas van Rijn was in many ways an ideal boss!
Ad astra! Sean
Well, he's not an ideal boss if you're lazy or stupid -- but in that case, you won't have him for a boss for long.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Very true! I should have specified Old Nick demanded competence and hard work from his employees.
Ad astra! Sean
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