Flandry and the Shaman confer with two of the dwarfish, white-furred and boneless but otherwise humanoid (?) Ice Folk. The problem is how to get a message off the planet undetected and unsuspected by their enemy, the Kha Khan. Experienced Poul Anderson readers know what to look out for and it arrives on schedule:
"Suddenly, and joyously, [Flandry] laughed." (p. 379)
The sound startles the Ice Dwellers and the Shaman stands in shadow - symbolizing his incomprehension? - whereas Flandry alone, standing with head raised in the moonlight, laughs like a boy.
"'By Heaven,' he shouted, 'we're going to do it!'" (ibid.)
This is another of the many Andersonian moments of realization. The hero suddenly realizes the solution to a problem but the readers must wait to see the solution in action.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Really, I should have kicked myself many times as I read these Andersonian moments of realization for the first time! Why didn't I realize what the solution to the problems facing people like Flandry or Aline Chang-Lei were? Anderson always provided clues earlier in these stories pointing to what the solution was. I should be chagrined!
But a really competent writer not only provides clues pointing readers to what the solution to a problem was, he also does not make it too easy to realize that solution, because that would have spoiled the story.
Ad astra! Sean
Also, Flandry laughs like a boy because he's still relatively young, and the rivalry of the Empires is still a "Great Game" to him, though it's life or death. He gets more serious and thoughtful later.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree! And if we go my revision of Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization, Dominic Flandry 37 years old in "A Message in Secret."
And, as the ambitions and aggressive behavior of China has been making plain, that Great Game of rivalry between contending powers is going on right now. But, too many in the US are unwilling to face that hard fact!
Ad astra! Sean
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