Before the Envoy has departed, Brent glowers, interrupts, protests to his superior, Yu Wenji, slams an object on a table, explodes, calls his fellow crew members "freaks" and refers sarcastically to Yu's "'...precious Chinese culture...'" (p. 55) He obviously should not have been included and should now be expelled even at this late date.
Ajit Nathu Sundaram, linguist and semantician, the only non-physical scientist on board, is fine-featured, rises and bows to Yu, addresses her as "'Engineer Yu...,'" (p. 56) looks happy and says that he is but adds that:
"'A few of our friends are less fortunate.'" (ibid.)
He had been sitting thinking, although not productively as he puts it, and offers Yu a game of chess.
This contrast is a bit too pronounced. Clearly, Ajit is an asset on any exploratory expedition to another civilization and Brent is a liability.
At last, all ten are on stage. Ajit is not introduced until they are all on board. He is the most famous person in his fields.
4 comments:
A display of why discipline is necessary on an expedition.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
The captain has to command and be obeyed, even when he might be wrong.
Ad astra!
Sean: yup. Pretty much anything is better than people sitting around arguing while things explode.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly, sea ships or space ships, they cannot be democracies.
Ad astra! Sean
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