"'They were magnificent once. They could be again. I would love to see them our willing subjects.' His scarred features drooped a little. 'Unlikely, of course. They're not that kind of species. We may be forced to exterminate.'"
-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-192 AT CHAPTER TEN, p. 92.
Maybe the last sentence is higher praise than the first?
Brechdan again:
"'Commander... your young man makes me proud to be a sentient creature. What might our united races not accomplish? Hunt well.'"
-op. cit., CHAPTER FOURTEEN, p. 145.
Merseians and kzinti "hunt" in space.
Chuut-Riit, governor of the Alpha Centauri system:
"Humans were the most valuable subject-species the Kzinti had yet acquired."
-"The Children's Hour," Chapter I, pp. 153-154.
"Humans fell into groups naturally; they thought in terms of organization. The remote ancestors of Kzin had hunted in small packs, the prehumans in much larger ones." (ibid.)
"These hairless monkeys have talents we lack." (ibid.)
"Is it beneath the Hero to admit that a sword extends his claws, or a computer his mind? With human patience and organizational talent at the service of the Heroes, there was nothing they could not accomplish. Even monkey inquisitiveness was a trait not without merit, irritating though it could be." (ibid.)
Human Superiority is sometimes a theme in sf although Anderson shows the Ishtarians as in some ways superior to humanity.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I would say, rather, that humans, Kzinti, Ishtarians, even Merseians, excel in some ways more than what might be seen in other races. Differences in degree, rather than superiority of species.
Which does not mean, of course, that bad ideas or ideologies might not become dominant for long periods among this or that intelligent race. Such as the racial supremacism animating the Merseian Roidhunate.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment