"The wind ruffled waves and strummed idly in rigging. The sun struck long copper-tinged rays through scudding cloudbanks, to walk on the sea with fiery footprints. The air was cool, damp, smelling a little of salty life." (XIX, p. 267)
Four senses: strumming wind; fiery sunlight; cool, damp air; salt smell. This is also the quiet between the battle and the negotiations. Van Rijn remakes a planet just so that he can get off it. We have seen him heavily armored in the midst of the battle:
"He huffed off, like an ancient steam locomotive in weight and noise and sootiness." (XVIII, p. 262)
Unfortunately, he lacks "...the quality of crew..." to make him "...a neolithic Nelson." (p. 263)
However, he marshals what forces he can for a clearly conceived goal:
"'...this truce is the only objective of all our fighting so far...'" (p. 265)
It is fortunate for the rest of the universe that van Rijn's preferred profession is peaceful trade, not military conquest.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Too much hard work being a politician, ruler, or conqueror! It would mean Old Nick spending his days arguing with pols, riding herd on bureaucrats, and reading/annotating reports!
That said, if van Rijn had chosen that line of work, he would probably have done a better job of it than most. Hmmm, an early Manuel Argos?
Yes, except in sheer physical massiveness, Old Nick was not in the least charismatic looking!
Nicholas van Rijn might have been doing good simply to save his own neck (and those of his companions), but it was still doing a good deed. Ending a war and finding ways for two hostile nations to be able to live with each other. With vast and mostly beneficial consequences for Diomedes. So he was indeed the Man Who Counts.
Ad astra! Sean
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