Cordies And Other Facets

In Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History, "The Pirate" is narrated neither by the omniscient narrator nor by its protagonist, Trevelyan Micah, but by an unseen character who defends the role of the organization that Trevelyan works for, the Stellar Union Coordination Service. In Virgin Planet, Davis Bertram:

"...knew enough Union law to be sure that just about anything he did to the Doctors would be all right with the Coordination Service." (CHAPTER XVIII, p. 133)

Thus, Davis is not a Cordy but is constrained by the laws that they enforce. We are shown different facets of life in the Stellar Union. One major cultural conflict is between the Cordies and the Nomads and Trevelyan will later change sides.

A future history series written over several years presents earlier and later stages of its author's development as a writer. "The Pirate" is a much later work than the rest of the series. Its narrator begins:

"We guard the great Pact..."

-Poul Anderson, "The Pirate" IN Anderson, The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 3 (Riverdale, NY, July 2018), pp. 137-165.

By "We...," he means the Coordination Service. He mentions two groups "...the younger generations, the folk of the star frontier..." who "...so often do not understand." (ibid.) The way this is phrased, the two groups are run together, but presumably they are different. The story ends:

"But the young generations so often do not understand." (p. 165)

The elegiac tone fits the fact that its author is writing this story so much later than the others. Only Trevelyan has appeared before although in a "later" instalment so that anyone now reading the series in chronological order of fictional events reads "The Pirate" before The Peregrine. The narrator gives the new characters an added importance or significance by naming them before they appear:

"Now that the Service is ready, after a generation, to let the truth be known, I can tell you about Trevelyan Micah, Murdoch Juan, Smokesmith, red Faustina, and the rest, that you may judge the rights or wrongs for yourself." (ibid.)

That the story is being told a generation later adds to the sense of time having passed. The tone is reflective. We are being invited not just to read but to judge.

The Service is described as:

"...an organization operating across a fraction of the galaxy..." (ibid.)

This differs markedly from the talk in earlier written instalments of men having explored all over the Galaxy and of a Galactic civilization. Trevelyan flies to the city of Port Nevada to make contact with Murdoch. We understand from The Peregrine that there are no longer any cities on Earth. In any case, this is the one enclave that is necessary for the cargo ships with their human and non-human crews. The rest of Earth is quiet and intellectual.