Sunday 7 February 2021

The Violent Climax Approaches

(On very close inspection, this book is Agent Of The Terran Empire by Poul Anderson in French but it is very hard to see.)

The Game Of Empire -

in CHAPTER SEVENTEEN, Diana and co arrive on Zacharia;

in CHAPTER EIGHTEEN, Olaf Marnusson and Dominic Flandry converse elsewhere;

CHAPTER NINETEEN, back on Zacharia, begins:

"The climax was violent." (p. 402)

Thus, with one single-chapter interruption, the arrival on Zacharia is followed by the violent climax. Events move quickly. We might afterwards think that we had read about Diana and co spending quite some time on Zacharia but we hadn't.

At the end of CHAPTER SEVENTEEN, Kukulkan Zachary tells Diana:

"'Humankind needs your genes. They are valuable. It is your duty to pass them on.'" (p. 385)

It is not. Women and men control their own bodies. Everyone has the right not to procreate.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

If Kukulkan Zachary had said something like this: "Humankind needs your genes. They are valuable. I urge you to at least consider it is your duty to pass them on," that would have been something I think we both could agree on.

And I don't think Diana was opposed to someday having children, simply not when she was only age 17. I also recall how she regarded abortion with distaste and disgust.

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

The fact that you're autonomous doesn't mean you don't have responsibilities.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

I agree. And I have no doubt Diana would agree as well.

Ad astra! Sean