By interrogating their prisoner, van Rijn, the Shenna reveal more to him about themselves than he discloses to them. Unsystematic, repetitive and impulsive interrogations become mere boasts and threats. Van Rijn answers truthfully about Technic civilization when the same information could in any case have been received from the Shenna's human agents.
By seeking information, anyone reveals what knowledge they lack and they might not know how to formulate questions. Pretending to be helpful, van Rijn requests precisification of the Shenna's questions and thus gains a better understanding of what they want. Like Larry Niven's kzinti, they despise monkey curiosity yet one of them wants to know about early Terrestrial examples of one civilization inheriting from another. It becomes clear that the Shenna have inherited their cybernetic technology from an earlier Dathynan species that they exterminated.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
If I was an enemy of Old Nick, I hope I would have done better interrogating him, but I doubt it. Not just because he is so shrewd and wily, but also because it takes time, training, and experience to be good at interrogating people. We see Anderson describing how professionals do that in HUNTERS OF THE SKY CAVE and A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS.
Ad astra! Sean
Also, the Shen reveal that they have all the organization of a high school clique and just aren't all that bright.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
True, but stupid barbarians with nuclear weapons and space ships could still have inflicted enormous damage to a disunited Technic civilization which was a mishmash of hundreds, maybe even thousands of sovereign entities. States not many of whom would have serious military forces at their disposal.
Ad astra! Sean
True: intelligence (in both senses) always helps, but isn't necessarily decisive.
The British knew in advance the Germans were going to invade Crete with paratroopers, for instance -- they'd broken the German codes.
But as one of them put it, knowing that an enraged gorilla is going to hit you in the face doesn't do much good if you're the size of a six-year-old.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I remember reading about that, maybe in Churchill's history of WW II. About the only consolation the British could gain from their defeat in Crete was Germany losing so MANY of those elite, highly trained specialized soldiers.
Ad astra! Sean
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