Imaginative details matter in sf that is set in the future and/or on another planet. We must be continually reminded that the narrative is not set here and now but there and then. For this reason, we welcome the data that the Ardazirho howl when going into battle and that they patrol a conquered city on motor unicycles, not on motorbikes. They also travel locally on foot as much as possible albeit in small armed parties, of course. Nor do they explain why they do this although Anderson must present some plausible speculative reasons: they enjoy the challenge or their sensitive noses and ears prefer the open air...
When five Ardazirho walk from headquarters to barracks in the dark and rain, Flandry must identify Clanmaster Temulak by face alone and must render him unconscious by physical attack while Emil Bryce kills the other four with cyanide darts into exposed flesh. This must be done quickly before the arrival of howling reinforcements, summoned by the racket of Flandry's fight with Temulak, and Flandry must also spray petrol to prevent tracking by scent. A job for two highly skilled men. Flandry is confident enough to grin while he sprays the petrol.
Anderson's Dominic Flandry and Frederik Forsyth's Mike Martin demonstrate that an army of such saboteurs would be able to wreak havoc with an invading army, especially by organizing resistance. After all, if every man, woman, child and dog simultaneously set out to kill one invader each, then there would not be enough invaders to go around. Anyone who knew Flandry would advise the wolves to kill him as soon as they had arrested him.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but most times in both fiction and the real world, people have generally obeyed invading conquerors, for both understandable/practical reasons and contemptible ones. Esp. if the invaders behave with reasonable self restraint, as was, to be fair, the case with the Ardazirho.
Ad astra! Sean
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