Ensign Flandry, CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
Otto Brummelmann, captain of the freighter Rieskessel, registered on Nova Germania but operating from Irumclaw, is a sad parody of Nicholas van Rijn: huge, potbellied, ungainly, unkempt, bellowing, "'Ho, ho, ho!'," (p. 154), bald, wildly bearded, little eyes fixed on Persis, wearing a soiled, wrinkled tunic, complaining of loneliness, probably thinking "...of himself as being in the high, wild tradition of early spacefaring days..." (p. 155) but croaking and wailing at the prospect of a Merseian boarding party, then won over when Persis calls him "'...a real man. Like the old heroes of the League, come back to life.'" (p. 158).
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Brummelmann is a pathetic parody of Old Nick! And he certainly would not have been so craven about the Merseians as Otto was.
Even Leon Ammon would have been tougher than Brummelmann. I thought of him because of how obese Ammon also was.
Ad astra! Sean