Basil Donovan converses with the Arzunians who want him to betray the Terrans:
"'So -' Donovan spoke softly, and the wind whimpered under his voice." (V, p. 413)
Even that far back, the wind underlined and punctuated dialogue in a work by Poul Anderson.
Unable to operate spaceships themselves, the Arzunians want to enslave Terrans to fly the ships for them. In this, they partly resemble the Alori in Anderson's Psychotechnic History. But they mostly resemble the Exaltationists in Anderson's Time Patrol series, both in appearance and in attitude. Like the Exaltationists, the Arzunians fight among themselves and spread only chaos. It is a foregone conclusion that they will be defeated although, before that, Donovan experiences an interesting conflict of loyalties.
14 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Not necessarily a foregone conclusion if we keep in mind how Anderson could have written very different endings for "Sargasso." I also thought of how "Murphy's Hall," one of his grimmest stories, could have been given a much more upbeat ending. It all depends on what Anderson believed would be the best endings for his stories.
Ad astra! Sean
The Exaltationists and the villains in "Sargasso" share a rampant egotism amounting to narcissism.
They're clever, but their ability to cooperate is limited.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Unlike, alas, the Draka in your Domination books, villains who did learn how to cooperate all too effectively!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: social animals -need- to cooperate. In fact, one of the driving forces of social (and hence biological) evolution is precisely that ability. Language and behavioral flexibility made tribes possible -- something other late non-human hominids apparently didn't have, and probably why our variety of hominid replaced all the others.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree! I simply had in mind how that ability to cooperate can be used badly, very badly.
Ad astra! Sean
Indeed. Nazis cooperated in genocide.
Paul: true, but there's nothing unique about Nazi genocide, except the industrial parts.
When Timur-i-Leng (Tamerlane) sacked Delhi in 1398, he had his men build a pyramid of 100,000 heads.
And when the first Indo-European speakers invaded the British Isles in around 2500 BCE, the genetic evidence shows a 93%+ genetic turnover -- one population completely replacing another -- within no more than a few centuries and possibly less than one, from south to north and from Kent to the Aran Isles.
As Stalin said, "When people cause you a problem, remember: no people, no problem. Death solves all problems."
Kaor, Paul!
Besides what Stirling said, I would add the Communists cooperated very effectively in perpetrating the genocides within the USSR and the killing fields of Cambodia.
Ad astra! Sean
Sure. Nazis were not meant to be the only example. They are a standard 20th century example and unique in their industrialization of genocide.
It is not necessary to counter a Nazi example with a Communist example! We can agree that the 20th century and earlier centuries and, unfortunately, the 21st century - just when we should be cooperating to save the planet - are full of atrocities.
Kaor, Paul!
No, it is necessary, because so many many still dodge the horrors perpetrated by people avowing "ideals" they like or agree with. It's easy to denounce Hitler, with his nonsense about race and blood, but harder to do the same with Lenin, Stalin, Mao, with all their bafflegarble about socialism and workers of the world uniting to break their chains.
True, Hitler and the Nazis were more colorful than the dully bureaucratic Soviets.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I do not dodge horrors. I remember you once commented that the generals in Chile were unwise to use repressive measures because it eroded support for them. We need to simply condemn their horrors.
Socialism and workers' unity are not all "bafflegarble" but that is a wider issue.
Paul.
BTW, I hope I can make a passing remark about Nazism, which we agree is bad, without immediately being challenged on socialism. There are too many loaded issues here.
Paul - One can hope. ;)
Kaor, Paul!
We cannot agree about socialism/Marxism, so I will leave it at that.
Correct, about how any regime can blunder into useless, futile, counterproductive measures.
Ad astra! Sean
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