Ridenour And The Arulian

John Ridenour conducts a curious interview. First, his interviewee and he are of different species. Secondly, neither is a native of Freehold, the planet where the interview is conducted. The blond-haired, hatchet-faced interviewer is from Earth, here known by its Latin name, Terra, whereas the blue-feathered, sharp-snouted interviewee is from Aruli, which he calls "Eternal Aruli." -Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 12. Thirdly, neither speaks the other's language. However, both are fluent in the principle language of another space-traveling race, the Merseians, although the Arulian has difficulty with some Eriau phonemes.

To summarize, a Terrestrial interviews an Arulian in Eriau on Freehold. Thus, the Earthman interacts in different ways with three other planets. Might such colorful cultural combinations occur in our future? Yes, if, like Ridenour, we inhabit "...a universe that produces sophonts as casually as it produces snowflakes." (p. 7) But I doubt that. If it were true, then the extinction of a rational species, although tragic, would not be as great a tragedy as if that species were the only intelligent race in existence.

Approaching A Resolution

Desai speaks to Tanya who writes to the fugitive Ivar. The Companions of the Arena deliver the letter. Thus, indirectly, Desai conveys crucial intelligence to Ivar. The supposed Elder answers the description of a Merseian agent. This is the beginning of cooperation between High Commissioner Desai and future Firstman Ivar.

I find it inappropriate that Baen Books' The Technic Civilization Saga collects "Outpost of Empire" and The Day Of Their Return in an omnibus volume entitled Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire. These two works are parts of the Technic History but not of the Flandry series. They deserve to appear in a volume entitled, e.g., Outposts Of The Terran Empire.

However, they are an important sequel to Young Flandry. When our hero saves a planet, defends the Empire, defeats a rebellion etc, his actions have consequences for entire populations and for many other individuals but we do not usually see the consequences. Here, we do. When Desai struggles to contact Ivar and Ivar struggles to decide, both of them address the consequences of Flandry's defeat of the McCormac Rebellion.

The Pathetic Fallacy And Commissioner Desai

The pathetic fallacy is the literary pretense that nature reflects human feelings. It rains when a character is sad etc. I quoted some powerful pathetic fallacies from Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series. In The Day Of Their Return, the last passage to feature Chunderban Desai begins:

"Chimes rang from the bell tower of the University. They played the olden peals, but somehow today they sounded at peace."
-Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 232.

And the passage ends:

"As Desai closed the door behind him, he heard the tadmouse begin singing." (p. 236)

Bells are artificial, not natural, but "...the olden peals..." should sound as before. However, Desai has just helped to prevent a war so the peals sound peaceful to him. The Aenean household pet singing confirms for the reader that, thanks to Desai and others, including the tadmouse's owner, Aeneas will remain at peace.

The Game Of Glory

"The Game of Glory" occupies 36 pages in Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010) and is divided into sections numbered I to VIII. Section I, three and a half pages, is almost a separate story, summarizing two years of Dominic Flandry's life.

Flandry:

tries to track down an escaped Merseian spy in the Spican province of the Terran Empire;
encounters Aycharaych (not named here) at Betelgeuse;
infiltrates the Merseian Empire;
has leave on Terra;
fights a duel;
is reassigned to Spica;
heads the Intelligence operation during the conquest of Brae;
finds a clue that will lead him to the human colony planet, Nyanza.

My previous posts on this story have focused on Section I. Sections II-VIII are set on Nyanza. See here and here.