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.

A Perpetual Banquet

Poul Anderson's hero, Dominic Flandry:

"...went to Terra on leave, was invited to the perpetual banquet of the Lyonid family, spent three epochal months..." (Flandry Of Terra, London, 1976, p. 9).

A perpetual banquet, like the Mad Tea Party in Alice? How would that work? Domestic slaves serve the family and guests who are seated at one half of a large circular table while a second team of slaves clears and resets the other half so that the banqueters can keep moving around the table? (I say "slaves" because we are talking about the Terran Empire here. Otherwise, domestic servants would play this role.)

Assuming eight hours for sleep, no one can possibly eat continuously for sixteen hours every day indefinitely. The family must take it in turns to host the meal while the guests change every three months or so. There must also be intervals, as at the theatre, when guests can attend to other business using computer consoles either set in the table or just behind where they sit or can stretch their legs by strolling around the Lyonid mansion and garden.

Tolkien's Hobbits eat seven meals a day, I think. If these were spaced out through the day, they might just provide enough instalments for a perpetual banquet.

8.00: rise, butler brings cup of tea.
9.00-10.00: breakfast.
10.00-11.00: second breakfast.
11.00-12.00: elevenses.
12.00-14.00: lunch.
14.00-16.00: buffet snacks available from tables set around the dining hall walls.
16.00-17.00: afternoon tea.
17.00-18.00: buffet snacks as above.
18.00-20.00: dinner.
20.00-22.00: buffet snacks available in the bar.
22.00-23.30: supper.
24.00: retire.

By eating and drinking sparingly while concentrating on enjoying the conversation and no doubt also entertainment provided, a guest might survive for a few months, as Flandry does.

Flandry's Life

"The Game of Glory" gives a unique account of Dominic Flandry's life over a period of two or more years, not just during a single incident or assignment.

During this period, Flandry:

has a first encounter with the Merseian agent A'u on the frontier planet Conjumar in the Spican province;

dispatches agents who search, unsuccessfully, for the escaped A'u on nearby planets;

has a first encounter with the Merseian agent Aycharaych in the Betelgeusean system;

infiltrates the Merseian Rhoidunate;

there finds an uninhabited terrestroid planet set aside as an aristocratic hunting preserve where the Terran Navy then builds an advanced base;

has leave on Terra where he spends three months at the Lyonid family's perpetual banquet, then fights a duel;

returns to Spica;

is involved in the conquest of the planet Brae where a clue enables him to track down A'u on the planet Nyanza.

We wish that the Flandry series had provided more such details.