At Tharsis

The Fleet Of Stars, 9.

Kinna and Elverir, flying into the Martian wilderness towards Tharsis, pass above Guthrie Head and the Sisters. 

Outside their flitter:

"The landmarks dropped behind like time itself..." (p. 115)

Inside Kinna's mind:

"Fragments of the history blew past her like dust on the wind." (ibid.)

Two good comparisons: landmarks like time; history like dust on the wind. (That ubiquitous Andersonian wind.)

The Lunarians are not only physically but also psychologically different from Terrans and, in a previous volume, devised their own language. Elverir will introduce Kinna to those Martian Lunarians who call themselves neither brigands nor guerillas but Inrai. Why, in such a high tech society, would anyone:

rob caravans;

wreck machines;

kill sophotects and men?

Some explanation will be given but we must read on.

Elverir might just have told Kinna that the Inrai cause was just but Poul Anderson wants to convey some linguistic nuances. Thus, Elverir uses the adjective, "douris," (p. 113) which we are told means "natural" or "unwarped" rather than "just" or "righteous." Elverir's "'...zailin...'" (p. 119) with the Inrai was maybe his initiation rather than his indoctrination or training. 

Will the Inrai, who want their freedom from the Synesis, receive help from Proserpina? In Anderson's Technic History, will Aeneas receive help from Ythri or Merseia or will Diomedes receive help from Ythri? (We are not about to answer those questions here.)

The Inrai want a sovereign Lunarian Mars and Luna back. Kinna recognizes irredentism. 

"'Carthagalann stole Egypt, our rightful possession.'

"'Italia irredenta,' murmured Everard.

"'Hunh?'

"'Never mind.'"

-Poul Anderson, "Delenda Est" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 173-228 AT 6, p. 210.

Elverir acknowledges that one of his comrades is "'...not wholly sane...'" (p. 119) about their cause. Shivering but not from cold, Kinna reflects:

"History said that causes brought forth such people. But the murderous great causes belonged only to history, didn't they? They were centuries extinct, weren't they?" (ibid.)

Here again, this late future history reminds us of Anderson's earlier Psychotechnic History:

"There was something of the fanatic about Etienne Fourre.'"

-Poul Anderson, "Un-Man" IN Anderson, The Psychotechnic League (New York, September 1981), 31-129 AT V, p. 54.

In the wake of World War III, Fourre fights nationalism and builds the UN world government although the title character, Naysmith, thinks that in earlier days that same Fourre would have been with the Inquisition or Cromwell.

The spirit of the Psychotechnic History creeps closer when:

"The room was growing dark. [Kinna] imagined the specter of the nation-state walking in through the wall, from the cold and unbreathable wind outside, followed by war and war and war." (p. 125)

The Inrai began when, during a dispute about access rights, one Lunarian killed three sophotects and one man, then fled into the wilderness with fellow rebels. They are supported by independent Lunarian cities, rob caravans for supplies and fire at constables to keep them off. The cybercosm works towards a destiny whereas the Inrai want freedom from destiny.

The universe is big enough for both.