Eric Tamarin speaks to his father, Nicholas van Rijn:
"'...word will go out to handle me with velvyl waldos.'" (p. 198)
We deduce the meaning of "velvyl" from context.
"...waldos..." is an indirect reference to Robert Heinlein's Waldo, companion story to Heinlein's Magic, Inc., which was the inspiration for Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos and its sequel, Operation Luna. Anderson's inter-universal inn, the Old Phoenix, is visited both by Valeria Matuchek from the Operation... novels and by - Nicholas van Rijn. But there is no hint of such a connection when Eric speaks to his father. The multiverse is a very big place.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
But maybe, as a kind of inside jest for SF fans, Anderson meant that allusion to "waldos" to make us think Heinlein, as well as Sturgeon, was part of the past of the Technic stories. As we both know, the latter writer was mentioned centuries later in THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN.
Happy New Year! Sean
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