Mental Turmoil

A Circus Of Hells, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

Flandry impersonates Ydwyr over the radio from the airbus, then his mind races through every possibility:

Navy personnel would not be familiar with Ydwyr's voice;

except for higher ranks who might be bypassed because the Roidhunate encourages initiative from juniors;

and any senior who does hear a replay might not notice anything odd;

or might attribute any oddness to a sore throat?

And so on. Poul Anderson captures how our minds go into overdrive under stress and in emergencies. Meditation and relaxation techniques address such mental processes. Flandry is able to operate at maximum efficiency even while his mind simultaneously hastens through every possible question and doubt. We see that Flandry is destined for greatness when contrasted with some of his colleagues who play spear-carrying parts in the series.