Rochefort's pre-dinner drink with Cajal is one of the most comfortable scenes in the novel. The older man tries to get the younger man relaxed and talking freely. Rochefort says something in favour of his former captors, the Avalonians, which is just the sort of thing that the Admiral needs to hear.
Rochefort says, "'Body of Christ,'" (p. 624) then signs himself before the Admiral's crucifix. From their descriptions, I infer that van Rijn and later Cajal are old-style Catholics whereas Rochefort and later Axor are, we are told, Jerusalem Catholics. But that such a difference exists is partly inferred.
Is an Avalonian merchant who defects:
"'Despicable or realistic? No matter.'" (p. 621)
It does not matter to the Admiral. I once argued with a neighbour that it would be a good idea for him to join the union at work. I added that, in this instance, either self-interest or solidarity would suffice as a motive!
Rochefort is a good guy, Terran or no Terran. We will stay with him for a while longer if possible.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Hope this gets uploaded.
IIRC, another twist in the story was that Avalonian merchant was carefully selected by the President of the Human Parliament and Daniel Holm to be the bearer of misleading information to the Terrans. The defector was fed disinformation, iow.
THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND shows us how deftly Anderson could depict intrigue and intelligence operations.
Ad astra! Sean
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