Targovi's Suspicions

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER TWO.

Targovi interviews a Merseian. Because the latter recognizes him as a Starkadian, Targovi is able to argue that Starkadians should try to gain some understanding of the Merseians in case that race occupies the Patrician System after their next attack. Initially, Fodaich Eidhafor the Bold, Vach Dathyr, invokes his oath to the Roidhun and his honor within his Vach but he is won over to talk about issues which are not secret in any case.

I have been rereading in the knowledge that Targovi is an Imperial Intelligence agent but this is not confirmed until we are told that:

"...it would grossly have blown cover for Targovi, obscure itinerant chapman, to see [Captain Jerrold Ronan, in charge of Naval Intelligence for the Patrician System] in person." (p. 229)

We learn some important facts about Ronan:

he is believed to have the confidence of the Admiral;

when Targovi, calling from his van, says that he feels that the discontent is being fomented, Ronan dismisses the impressions of a non-human;

when Targovi reports that spaceships have been landing on Zacharia, Ronan reminds him that the Navy conducts secret operations and warms him not to speak about this to anyone;

when Targovi reports that he has spoken with a Merseian, Ronan asks him how he dared;

when Targovi reports that the Merseians lost in space because they were led with stupidity but that the Imperial forces did not pursue their advantage, Ronan, outraged, tells him to drop this line of inquiry.

Official secrets are involved. Targovi is to await further instructions, if any, and, if he is not careful, he is dead.

So there it is. Magnusson is fomenting discontent and colluding with the Merseians, who are landing on Zacharia.

Targovi's Skills

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER TWO.

The previous post might have implied that Targovi's intelligence-gathering was both quick and easy but that is because I quoted only the significant points. He also had to be patient and to be prepared to talk as well as to listen.

Asked to talk about Imhotep, he relates anecdotes that lead to the subject of smuggling. Pretending to know of no way to smuggle anything onto Daedalus, he gets Combaralles to say that the way to do it is to land at a port with no inspectors, like Zacharia.

When she again says, "'No more!'," this is followed by "'Say on, Targovi.'" (p. 226) He does say on about Tigery-Seafolk relations and this in turn leads to discussion of the care and feeding of Merseians, i.e., of the current prisoners of war who must be the next item on Targovi's intelligence-gathering agenda. Like Dominic Flandry, Targovi is working all the time even when relaxing and spinning yarns.

More About Maps And Multi-Species Interactions

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER TWO.

See Maps II, then On The Highroad River I.

When a Tigery visits an inn run by a Cynthian, she serves him a bowl of tea to be followed by roast cowbeef! Then he converses with the other guests who are human. This is multi-species interaction gone mad! Tea has spread not only into the Merseian Roidhunate but also into the Patrician System which is on the frontier of the Terran Empire and in danger of being occupied by the Merseians.

In the inn, a Navy man says that the Empire has gone soft and needs a new Argolid dynasty. Combarelles, the Intelligence officer, cautions him to silence but then she herself makes even more incriminating remarks. Admiral Magnusson is:

"'...trying to set matters right, but - No, I shouldn't say more.'" (p. 225)

(Like Desai.)

She knows that Merseians too are bitter. Targovi innocently asks how she knows. She has spoken to prisoners. Again she says:

"'No. I'd better not say any more...'" (ibid.)

She is suspicious of some spaceships landing on the independent island of Zacharia. (Targovi pretends not to know where it is.) The suspicious ships look too sleek to be smugglers. They might be the Admiral's... Again:

"'No more!'" (p. 226)

Every time she says "No," she gives Targovi something else to investigate: Merseian prisoners and Zacharia.

Sorts Of Questions

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER ONE.

See:

Scholarship And Revelation

FX Axor

A Select Vintage And Solar Spices 

Axor's Quest 

 

"Diana frowned, trying to understand. Questions like this were not the sort she was wont to ask.

"'Does it matter?  I mean, can't you be as good a person, regardless?'

"'Knowledge of God always matters,' said Axor gravely." (pp. 209-210)

 

When Axor has spoken further and asked her whether, in certain circumstances, she would accept Christ as her Savior:

 

"Uncomfortable, Diana tried to shift the subject." (p. 210)

 

Observations

(i) "It takes all sorts..." A complex society is possible only because people have different interests and aptitudes.

 

(ii) Some people are good at practical questions about how the word works. Diana has had to learn to survive. Sheltered from struggle and intellectually inclined in any case, I was free to pursue academic interests, of which the most recent is the works of Poul Anderson.

 

(iii) I agree with Diana that you can be as good a person regardless and with Axor that ultimate questions always matter.

 

(iv) Axor has to learn how not to make people uncomfortable but I think that he only does it this once. 

(v) Diana has to learn not to be uncomfortable and to say what she thinks. It is possible to say a lot in reply to Axor's reasoning!

Targovi, Skilled Gatherer Of Intelligence

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER TWO.

To paraphrase -

Petal: Interplanetary traffic might be stopped in an emergency. 

Targovi: What emergency?

Desai: We are under orders not to add to the wild rumors flying about.

Targovi: Then arm me with truth to combat the rumors. I should have received some hint if a new Merseian attack were likely.

Patel: "'Not that!'" (p. 219) No danger from outside.

Targovi: From inside? Rebellions have become frequent in the Empire. The present dynasty...

Patel: Defends "the glorious revolution" and Emperor Hans.

Targovi: But Hans's sons...

Patel (provoked and annoyed, agrees to say more): Local Imperial forces should be far stronger. Many feel that Emperor Gerhart is badly advised and that some of the advice may be treasonous. Admiral Magnusson has recommended reforms to Terra and meanwhile might have to use martial law to suppress local restlessness...

Patel concludes:

"'...or - Enough. These matters are not for subjects like you and me to decide.'" (p. 220)

Or what, Desai? Magnusson might have to overthrow Gerhart? Targovi has got him to admit nearly everything.

Targovi, Tigery, Trader And...

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER TWO.

We learn immediately that Targovi is a trader and will soon learn that he is also an Intelligence agent. (The attached cover image shows him disguised as a circus animal.) Thus, on a modest and merely interplanetary scale, this Tigery combines the professions of van Rijn and Flandry. In either capacity, Targovi needs to ask shrewd questions about the state of society. As he says:

"'...a merchant must needs keep aware of what is in the wind.'" (p. 224)

Addressing a uniformed human Naval Intelligence officer, he asks:

"'Forgive a foreigner...The subtleties of politics lie far beyond his feeble grasp. What is it that you tauten yourselves against? Surely not the Merseians again.'" (ibid.)

Targovi already knows that it is not the Merseians again but must both feign ignorance and confirm existing knowledge while also hopefully learning more. His self-deprecating inquiry reminds us of yet another passage in the Time Patrol series:

"'I am a stranger and ignorant,' said Li. 'Forgive me if I do not understand your talk of irresistible weapons.'

"Which is the politest way I've ever been called a liar, thought Everard."

-Poul Anderson, "The Only Game in Town" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 129-171 AT 3, p. 144.

 

Shortly, we will analyze Targovi's skillful questioning of junior port officer, Dosabhai Patel - a good Terrestrial name out on the Imperial border!

Targovi's Trade

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER TWO.

Targovi travels from Imhotep to Daedalus in his "...battered Moonjumper..." (p. 216) to sell:

Tigery cutlery, tapestries and perfumes;

 

Seafolk underwater art;

 

exotic natural products like skins, gems, pearls and "...flavorful wild foods..." (ibid.)

Massive Imhotep produces life edible by Terrans and Tigeries whereas terrestroid Daedalus does not. Poul Anderson examines every detail of interplanetary economics.

Maps II

What I call the two "Admiral Flandry" novels are A Stone In Heaven and The Game Of Empire. As we know, Flandry features in three of the twenty-three chapters of the latter. The two works have something else in common, at least if we consider the Ace Books edition of the former. Each contains visual aids although of different kinds.

The back cover blurb of A Stone In Heaven accurately describes it as "MASSIVELY ILLUSTRATED." Not only are the illustrations faithful to the text. They also become almost sequential in their accompaniment of the narrative.

In The Game Of Empire, the visual aids are maps of:

the Patrician System;

the planet, Imhotep;

the planet, Daedalus;

the Highroad River on Daedalus;

the island of Zacharia on Daedalus.

See also Some More Details.

The first couple of times I read the novel, I wrongly ignored the maps. The opening paragraph of CHAPTER TWO  refers to the capital of Daedalus, Aurea, the Highroad River and the Phosphoric Ocean. Find them on the maps.

Pummairam And Diana

They inhabit different planets in different periods of different timelines. What do they have in common?

"Pum was a pup in a litter, raised catch-as-catch-can, a scavenger from the time he could walk..."

-Poul Anderson, "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 229-331 AT p. 266.

Pum became an acolyte in a dockside temple, learned from the drunken priest before being dismissed by his successor and has made a wide circle of acquaintances, including palace staff, in Tyre.

Diana says:

"'My education's been catch-as-catch-can, you realize...'"

-The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER ONE, p. 207.

Diana is "...everybody's friend..." (p. 196) and keeps her belongings in "...a ruinous temple..." (ibid.)

Pum escapes poverty by helping Manse Everard of the Time Patrol. Diana, daughter of Dominic Flandry, escapes poverty by helping Fr. Axor and coming to her father's attention.

When Axor asks whether the authorities did not object to her running away, Diana replies that they could not find her and then forgot: more juvenile wish fulfillment. Pum lived long before any "authorities" tried to regulate children's lives.

Meanwhile Tigeries...

The Game Of Empire, CHAPTER ONE.

This chapter includes a sentence that I have quoted twice before for good reason:

"Meanwhile Tigeries were hunting through hills where wind soughed in waves across forests, and surf burst under three moons upon virgin islands." (p. 214)

Fulfilling a dream of every teenage reader of juvenile adventure fiction, Diana Crowfeather ran away from home and school and:

"...passed her life among Seafolk and Tigeries." (ibid.)

In Diana Crowfeather, we summarized the history that had led to Diana being born on Imhotep. It was a curious mixture of events that we had already known - Flandry on Starkad - and of others that were new to us - Maria Crowfeather coming from Atheia.

In A Sense Of Adventure, I listed works by Heinlein, Blish, Lewis, Anderson and Stirling that convey a sense of adventure and specifically quoted "Meanwhile Tigeries..." Another work by Anderson that belongs on this list is the introduction to his Nicholas van Rijn story, "Hiding Place," which includes the quotation, "The world's great age begins anew..."