Because David Falkayn, Chee Lan and Adzel are Nicholas van Rijn's prime trade pioneer crew, they are deluged with social invitations as soon as they enter the Solar System. Within hours of his arrival, a beautiful, sophisticated woman named Veronica attaches herself to Falkayn, obliging him in every respect - except that she is vague and untruthful about herself -, and wants to accompany him even when he explains that some of his activities are confidential. What else can he think but that she is a commercial spy? But then how might she have been able to gain his confidence without arousing his suspicions?
When Falkayn fails to meet Veronica as arranged, she even contacts his teammates distraught and admits that she was "'...on a job...'" (VII, p. 388) but apologizes and so on. This seems like a very unsophisticated "job" for any of van Rijn's rivals within the Polesotechnic League. Veronica has fallen for Falkayn, has said more than she should have and is clearly not a professional commercial spy. Or is it her job to distract attention from someone else? Do van Rijn's rivals not know Falkayn's level of sophistication and therefore try approaches at every level?
Years ago, we had a guy coming to political meetings that you wouldn't believe. He looked and sounded exactly like a British Army officer out of uniform and asked if we were going to march on Parliament...
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I think you are right, Veronica was supposed to SEEM less competent than a true commercial spy should have been, to distract Falkayn. But, she then made the mistake of falling for him, which nullified her value to whoever had hired her.
Ad astra! Sean
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