Dalgetty's superhuman powers frighten his enemies:
"'...keep the patrols going. There are more like this creature around the island.'
"Dalgetty could imagine the primitive shudder in Thomas Bancroft, instinct from ages when the night was prowling terror about a tiny circle of fire." (p. 148)
Again, this futuristic sf series refers back to the most primitive of human experiences. ("...keep the patrols going..." is a ploy to keep some of the guards away from the action.)
We all remember the terror in the dark. Previously, I quoted A Cradle Song for Mary's mantle of blue. Now I refer to the lines:
"From reek of the smoke
"And cold of the floor,
"And peering of things
"Across the half-door."
(I wanted an image of a half-door seen from inside at night but we can't have everything.)
2 comments:
Most mammalian predators are nocturnal or close to it. Probably the most dangerous one to hominins was the leopard, which preys extensively on other primates, and leopards a more nocturnal than lions.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I also think it made sense for Bancroft to have patrols moving around the island. He couldn't be sure Dalgetty didn't have confederates coming to rescue him and seize Bancroft and his own allies.
Mr. Stirling: And we the fear felt by early hominins very dramatically in Anderson's "The Little Monster."
Ad astra! Sean
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