When van Rijn's enacted naivety has nearly sparked violence between two leading Drak'ho:
"In the silence that fell across the raft, Wace could hear how the dragon shapes up in the rigging breathed more swiftly. He could hear the creak of timbers and cables, the slap of waves and the low damp mumble of wind. Almost, he heard obsidian daggers being loosened in their sheaths." (p. 171)
The dragon shapes are Diomedeans. Poul Anderson observes and Wace hears every detail: breathing; creaking; slapping waves; mumbling wind. Of course the wind mumbles as some of the Diomedeans might. Wace imagines hearing daggers loosened. Everything has been orchestrated by van Rijn.
One of the potential combatants asks:
"'...have these creatures driven us crazy?'" (p. 173)
One of them will.
12 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I have to love Old Nick--from a safe distance! (Laughs)
Happy New Year! Sean
Van Rijn is like a diamond cutter -- he can sense lines of division!
When Wace sees the Diomedean high command lined up, he can at last see the divisions and conflicts that van Rijn has discerned and plans to exploit.
Wace is a bit naive. Hasn't he seen internal conflicts in his trip up the corporate hierarchy?
Kaor, to Both!
Once pointed out I can see that Eric Wace was being naive. I would put that down largely to how his technical and engineering education made it easy for him to overlook such complexities as human intrigues/rivalries. I also recalled how, centuries later, Flandry commented in THE PLAGUE OF MASTERS that the scientific mentality was not well suited for handling things as messy as politics.
Eric Wace was not stupid, merely a bit too narrowly "focused."
Happy New Year! Sean
Understanding that there probably *will* be internal conflicts, won't necessarily make it easy to identify what way the divisions run in a particular situation. Van Rijn likely has more experience in identifying the division in many situations than Wace has.
And in dealing with aliens.
Kaor, Jim!
Good points, ones I agree with, esp. the greater experience of Old Nick.
Happy New Year! Sean
Though the Drak'ho are rather human-like aliens due to their constant work producing constant sexuality -- except among their highmost elite, who don't do all that much physical work. That's a difference from human beings, tho' urban residence before germ theory had a similar effect.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I remember notice being made of that, how Drak'ho aristocratic families having a tendency to die out rather rapidly. Mention was made in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS of how, once it was understood strenuous physical effort was needed to produce constant sexuality, either a regimen of physical exercises or drugs produced the desired effect for Diomedeans from Fleet cultures.
I recall how mention was made in your Antonine books of how Senatorial families died out due to so many of their children succumbing to the diseases prevalent in the unhygienic conditions of cities like Rome. Once the connection of germs with disease was understood steps started being taken to remedy that, including aristocrats sending their children to far safer rural estates.
Happy New Year! Sean
Sean: Yeah, large concentrations of human beings produced negative population growth before germ theory took real hold.
The single exception was Japan, and that was more or less accidental, since the Tokugawa shoguns mandated recycling of all waste products, including human sewage, for agricultural use.
Even so, large Japanese cities of that era had only a rough balance between birth and death rates.
Still, that was an accomplishment -- Shakespeare's London had 5 burials for every baptism. Rome at its height was a bit better -- probably about 2 deaths per birth, due to Roman aqueducts and sewers.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
What the Tokugawa shoguns achieved was remarkable, however accidental it was.
I noted with interest how, backed by Marcus Aurelius, you had Mark and Paula advising the Romans how to retrofit and improve aqueducts, and properly dispose of sewage in Rome. Paula would be much better than Mark when it comes to managing the politics of such things!
Ad astra! Sean
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