Dodechahedrons And Other Shapes

Let's check some more vocabulary.

"...a dome in the form of half a dodecahedron, three concentric helices bent into a semicircle, several curving dendritic masts or antennae..."
(Man-Kzin Wars III, p. 224)

"...a horizon vague with scud." (p. 213)

"She had arranged to hypothecate her half of the equity..." (p. 218)

"...sea and wrack." (p. 220)

"'...how everything aboard a ship bleshes together.'" (p. 234)

(A portmanteau of "blend" and "mesh," coined by Theodore Sturgeon, apparently.)

"...instruments on his vambrace..." (p. 238)

"...a haft of plastic riveted to the tang..." (p. 252)

"...a microtome edge." (p. 252)

"...a corner of the napery..." (p. 253) (and here)

"...cut back on a boondoggle..." (p. 265)

"'Let's throw a proper luau.'" (p. 266)

Windjammers

"'Any [kzinti Swift Hunters] that remain in service will certainly be phased out as hyperdrive comes in, because it makes them as obsolete as windjammers.'" (Man-Kzin Wars III, p. 220)

The change from slower-than-light to faster-than-light in space must be like the change from sail to steam at sea. Future histories feature this change from STL to FTL. Poul Anderson's Technic History began with FTL interstellar exploration but Anderson later added an earlier story of interplanetary exploration by light sail ships. In his earlier Psychotechnic History, the STL period involves interplanetary travel and an interstellar generation ship. Heinlein's Future history had introduced the generation ship idea and showed the start of FTL travel.

In Larry Niven's Known Space future history, the transition from STL to FTL is an important part of the history. In Poul Anderson's Known Space/Man-Kzin Wars story, "Inconstant Star," an interstellar expedition departed from Alpha Centauri thirty years ago and never returned. It would have taken ten years to cross five light years and the crew, kzinti with one man, Peter Nordbo, would have been in stasis. Now an FTL ship with Peter's daughter, Tyra, in the crew will investigate. For Tyra, those thirty years are "...the dark backward and abysm of time..." (see here) but the FTL ship will cross five light years in almost no time.

"'...what are we trying on this voyage but to probe the past and learn what happened long ago?'" (p. 222)

Psychological Differences

"It hurt [the kzinti] less, losing friends, provided the friends died bravely; and few of them had mastered the art of putting oneself in the head of an enemy." (The Man-Kzin Wars, p. 172)

These are two differences between human and kzinti psychology. The belief that a brave death is a good death is common, in Anderson's works, to Vikings and Ythrians and, in ERB's works, to green and red Martians.

"Kine die, kinfolk die.
"This I know that does not die:
"How dead men's deeds are deemed."

The inability to understand an enemy's viewpoint is a definite failing on the part of the kzinti. I remember a trade union branch secretary telling me that we had to see an issue from management's point of view. Did they think that the work force would resist if I was dismissed? As we saw when discussing Poul Anderson's Technic History, Terran Intelligence had to assess the real intentions of the Merseians, not engage in wishful thinking about their High Command including pacifists!

For other fictional examples of human superiority, see here.

Warriors And A Knight

(Since one or two correspondents have sometimes contacted me by email, I should mention that my gmail facility is currently having trouble connecting to Google.)

(On the other hand, at least some emails are arriving.)

"The Ambassadors of Flesh" by Poul Anderson was the cover story of Planet Stories, Summer 1954 (see image). It was re-entitled "Warriors from Nowhere" when collected in Agent Of The Terran Empire, companion volume of Flandry Of Terra, and "The Warriors from Nowhere" when collected in Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra, Volume 6 of The Technic Civilization Saga.

Retroactively, the 1954 story, hereinafter "Warriors...," became a prelude to A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows when the latter was published in 1974. The story informs us only that "'...her Highness, Lady Megan of Luna [is] the favorite granddaughter of the Emperor himself!'"
-Poul Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (New York, 2012), p. 308.

A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, hereinafter A Knight..., additionally informs us that this Emperor, Hans, had "'...assumed, which means grabbed, the crown less than two years earlier. Everything was still in upheaval. Three avowed rivals were out to replace him by force of arms...'" (p. 350).

"Warriors..." (1954) refers only to "'...the Emperor himself!'" It gives no hint that he is a recent usurper waging civil war on three fronts. A Knight... makes clear that Megan is "...the new Emperor's favorite granddaughter..." (p. 346) although Sandra Miesel, in her Afterword to A Stone In Heaven, describes her as "...the favorite granddaughter of one elderly interim Emperor..." - Sandra Miesel, "Afterword: The Price of Buying Time" IN Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven (New York, 1979), pp. 237-251 AT p. 247.

Hans, as described in A Knight..., does not sound like the kind of man who would indulge a favorite granddaughter, especially when his urgent priority was to win a civil war. An "elderly" Emperor, as suggested by Miesel, is probably closer to Anderson's original intent when writing "Warriors..." Miesel was probably making sense of the retcon of "Warriors..." into a civil war period. If four claimants were fighting simultaneously, then could there also have been an elderly interim incumbent at around the same time?

"Warriors..." is rewritten for the later edition. Both versions state that Megan "'...has the Emperor around her little finger.'"(p. 312) But the later version adds:

"I suppose even the hardest old bastard must have a sentimental streak...Also, his newly and forcibly acceded Majesty has so much else to worry about..." (ibid.)

So here is an explicit attempt to rationalize this hard guy's indulgence of his granddaughter.

A Knight... refers back to:

Nicholas van Rijn's shipwreck on Diomedes;
the degeneration of the Polesotechnic League into a set of cartels;
Avalon's fight to remain in the Domain of Ythri;
Flandry's affair with Persis d'Io on Starkad;
the planet Talwin;
Flandry's former superiors, Fenross and Kheraskov;
slavery on Shalmu;
the McCormac rebellion;
Chunderban Desai and the potential jihad on Aeneas;
Flandry's defeat of the Scothans;
his rescue of Megan;
the Taurian Sector, its capital now moved from Vor to Dennitza;
the pacifistic planet, Esperance;
Flandry's adversaries, Tachwyr the Dark and Aycharaych -

- and presents for the first and last time Aycharaych's home planet, Chereion, place of mystery and subject of speculation.