Because of her past life-experiences, Djana is susceptible to anti-Terran, pro-Merseian propaganda as channelled through Ydwyr. Flandry has a better understanding. He is prepared to be friendly with individual Merseians while never forgetting the ultimate aims of the Roidhunate, which are not the aims of all Merseians any more than all Russians support Putin or all Americans support their current President.
After all that Merseian-human-Domrath interaction, Poul Anderson introduces the second intelligent Talwinian species, the estivating Ruadrath:
"When first they woke, the People had no names. He who was Rrinn ashore was an animal at the bottom of the sea.
"Its changes were what roused him."
-CHAPTER SIXTEEN, p. 317.
Sea level and pressure drop. Lower temperature means more dissolved oxygen where the People estivate on a submerged plateau. Rrinn lies awake but without understanding. Hunger, instinct, reflex and training move him and others of Wirrda's. The pack must swim and eat before they remember.
On land, they find that a tailless, non-Merseian biped has invaded their cache house and the narrative point of view changes to that of Dominic Flandry.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
An ingeniously conceived non-human species! Anderson speculated far more convincingly about possible xenosophonts than did most SF writers.
Ad astra! Sean
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