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Honor Blackman, the big screen Pussy Galore, has passed away at the age of 94.
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# ? Apr 6, 2020 19:35 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 22:01 |
RIP to the greatest Pussy in film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym2nCyF0Lec
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# ? Apr 6, 2020 21:07 |
Chapter 10: Dragon Islandquote:‘That's where we're going.’ Ariadne's finger came down on the map. ‘Vrakonisi.’ Sailing in Greece hasn't changed a whole lot in 2000 years. quote:‘It's usually calm here,’ said Litsas, ‘but wait till we get past Cape Sounion and leave the shelter of Attica before you be sure. Out there you can meet a norther and it's often quite bloody. Right. We make over here towards Kea, run south past Kithnos and Seriphos, round Siphnos and sail due east. That part may not be good either, but if it's rough, we'll get some shelter from Antiparos and Paros for the last miles. Right. I'll just go and speak with Yanni.’ Yeah, it's almost like people in a lovely situation without many options get into the idea of socialism! quote:Bond picked up the map and found the sickle-shaped island. A memory clicked in his mind. Theseus is the mythical founder of Athens, with nobody fully proving if he was a real person or just a legend. Among his many feats he entered King Minos's labyrinth on Crete to kill the Minotaur inside. Ariadne was the king's daughter who fell in love with Theseus and provided him a sword and a ball of string that he could use to track his path through the labyrinth. While they eloped, Theseus abandoned her for some reason (like most ancient legends and myths, the versions differ). A generally accepted one is that he abandoned her on the island of Naxos where Dionysus claimed her as his bride. quote:‘I thought you didn't notice,’ said Ariadne, smiling and biting her lower lip like an embarrassed schoolgirl. ‘That was a silly mistake of mine.’ And now there's a Chinese dragon! quote:Litsas reappeared at that moment and the words caught in his ear. He checked in his stride. Statements about the veracity of "unwritten rules" in the Cold War aside, this book was written after the Sino-Soviet Split was complete. Disputes over their interpretation of Marxism and Mao's much more aggressively anti-West stance (in addition to regular conflicts of national interest) led to the two communist powers drifting apart over the 50s and 60s. In 1966, after this book is set but before it was published, Mao began the infamous Cultural Revolution to purge all remnants of pre-Mao China and convert the country to Maoism at the cost of mass deaths, torture, and economic destruction. quote:‘All right. This is it.’ Ariadne drew her legs up on to the bench and clasped her knees. This book is way more political than Fleming's works. Even the villain's plot has to do with international meetings and diplomacy. The later books by Gardner will pull away from that into some more elaborate and honestly wacky poo poo. quote:‘So,’ the girl went on, ‘an island seemed just ideal – out of the way, but enough tourists and people around so that a lot of visitors suddenly coming wouldn't be noticeable. Vrakonisi was chosen because at one end of it there's a big house on a kind of rock that you can only get to by water.’ I'm down! quote:From a tall wicker-covered flagon he poured three stiff drinks on to chunks of ice and handed them out. So basically From Russia With Love with more explosives. quote:‘One moment, James,’ Ariadne leaned forward earnestly. ‘I agree with all this, but I still don't see why you're so sure that the Chinese must be responsible. The Americans are quite capable of this sort of thing. Consider their behaviour about Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam; they don't hesitate to –’ That last line needs to be framed somewhere in a museum of the 60s. quote:‘And,’ said Bond, ‘if they're still telling you there that the United States is world enemy number one they need to catch up on their studies. The Kremlin knows perfectly well that the main threat isn't the West any more, but the East. Surely that's not news to you?’ At the time the book takes place, the first major escalation in sending troops to Vietnam is occurring, moving from simple aid and covert operations to actual invasion and bombing of North Vietnam. quote:Bond chuckled. Litsas roared with laughter and slapped Ariadne on the thigh. The three shared a moment of total understanding and pure uplifting gaiety. It was gone in a flash. Bond sipped ouzo and took up his exposition. Dastardly Chinese penetration of virgin nations! quote:Nobody spoke. The Altair moved peacefully and purposefully on its way. Litsas fetched fresh drinks. Litsas! Language! quote:‘Air I rather …’ Bond shook his head. ‘They'd have to crash the aircraft somewhere near by, and crashes are tricky things to rig. There's the question of getting the pilot away – oh, they wouldn't think twice about his being killed, but he would. If they put the machine down on land they risk burning everything beyond recognition. In the water you're in even greater danger of losing the lot. I suppose you could try a duplication, one aeroplane for the assault and a twin for the crash, but that way you'd more than double your risks. No, for the time being I think we can rule out the air. Now, land. How well do you know the place, Niko?’ Amis is actually somewhat correct. At this time the most common handheld anti-tank rocket launchers would be the RPG-7 and M20 Super Bazooka (or its Chinese copy, the Type 51). Their warheads are generally intended for armor penetration rather than fragmentation, and I don't believe any new warheads existed for the RPG yet. Your best bet would be to hit the wall and hope that the ensuing fragmentation on the other side kills everyone. quote:Bond's voice and manner had turned suddenly cold, so much so that Ariadne glanced at him in concern. In fact he had gone cold inside at the mental picture, hideously clear, of a thirty-knot cabin cruiser with a stolen tactical atomic device on board slipping round the corner of the island, throwing its insanely destructive punch and making off at full speed for the horizon and a rendezvous. God, that would rock the world all right! Litsas plans out their schedule for the day and heads down to prepare dinner. He expects them to arrive at their destination around 6:00 AM. quote:When they were alone on the narrow strip of deck, Ariadne turned and clung to Bond. Her lips tasted faintly of salt. At this point I'd expect them to climb aboard dressed as porpoises. quote:The three of them accordingly made what defensive plans appeared most flexible, and the necessary preparations. Then they ate a meal of black olives, fresh bread, delicious plum-shaped tomatoes, sliced raw onion and manouri cheese, followed by peaches and tiny sweet seedless grapes. They drank the light Mamos retsina and rounded off with Votris, which Litsas declared was the only drinkable Greek brandy. Two small glasses of it were enough for Bond. It carried the hint of treacliness which he could never stand in a drink. But he made the necessary polite noises. Amis showing off his greater expertise in international cuisine than Fleming here. I believe the "Votris" brandy is Botrys, which ended production in 1986. quote:At ten o'clock Litsas got up and stretched. ‘Good night, you two. I'm going to bed down here for a few hours. I hope I won't be seeing you before the morning. But if I do, remember: keep quiet and keep low.’
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# ? Apr 7, 2020 17:24 |
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Amis posted:the plan would have been to make it look as if my chief and I had done the job, and put us in no position to say we hadn't. Our bodies would be found with the deadly weapons in our hands And a note from M explaining why the boss is going to Greece to plant bombs personally, I hope.
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# ? Apr 7, 2020 20:16 |
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I wonder how much Amis's personal history comes into play here. He had been a diehard Stalinist until Kruschev's denunciation of Stalin, and then became a really strong anti-Communist. So I wonder to what extent the young, idealistic Ariadne, who's basically a good person but who's been duped into believing in Communism is almost a stand in for the young Kingsley Amis.
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# ? Apr 7, 2020 22:05 |
Epicurius posted:I wonder how much Amis's personal history comes into play here. He had been a diehard Stalinist until Kruschev's denunciation of Stalin, and then became a really strong anti-Communist. So I wonder to what extent the young, idealistic Ariadne, who's basically a good person but who's been duped into believing in Communism is almost a stand in for the young Kingsley Amis. Almost assuredly all of it.
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# ? Apr 7, 2020 23:02 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Yeah, it's almost like people in a lovely situation without many options get into the idea of socialism! Or fascism.
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# ? Apr 8, 2020 04:43 |
Chapter 11: Death by Waterquote:The deck was in darkness, apart from the glow aft, where Litsas would be at the wheel. Elsewhere there seemed to be no light at all. Cloud covered the moon and stars. The wind had abated a good deal, to Beaufort 2 or 3. Keeping below the gunwale, Bond crawled aft and round the corner of the deck-housing. ‘Dead ahead,’ said Litsas quietly. ‘Stay close to the mast and have a look.’ In the Beaufort Wind Scale, a 2 or 3 would be 4-10 knots. A relatively light breeze with some mild waves. quote:Bond raised himself with caution. He narrowed his eyes. A shadowy bulk, showing its starboard green and a light in a pilot-house amidships, lay almost broadside across their bow perhaps six hundred yards distant. It appeared not to have way on. Bond caught a glimpse of a swept-back stub mast above the cabin top, a movement in the pilot-house. Not much else. That might actually be the filthiest word in Bond canon so far that wasn't a racial slur. quote:Neither spoke while the distance between the two craft lessened. Bond found that he could make out an intenser patch of darkness to his left that must be Paros. On the starboard bow was an even vaguer shape; he guessed it to be the smaller island of Ios. Ahead, beyond the gradually expanding profile of the other boat, there lay something above and around which an almost indefinable change was taking place, as if an infinitely thin sheet of water were being lowered on to a pool of black ink: Vrakonisi, and the first hint of dawn. Bond has a choice to make between trusting them or believing they're an enemy boat. He decides to take the approach of looking like a normal person and offers the tow. quote:Within twenty seconds Bond had tied the string of small plastic-wrapped packages round his waist and donned the only two useful items of equipment that chance had stowed in the Altair's odds-and-ends locker: a pair of flippers and a hunting-knife for underwater fishing. In similar adventures in the past Bond had had a luxurious armoury of devices to choose from. This time, he realized without dismay, it had been and was going to go on being a matter of improvisation, guts and what physical skills he could command. At the time this book was published, the latest Bond film was You Only Live Twice. Amis received a positive reception for the low level of gadgetry and greater focus on realistic improvisation and spycraft, apparently expecting him not to keep along Fleming's path. quote:He was ready. Litsas turned from the wheel and spoke low and urgently. Bond pushes away from his yacht and swims in a wide circle toward the approaching craft, staying far enough away that he avoids being spotted. As the two ships get close enough for a tow rope to be exchanged, Bond climbs aboard and notes five men: four in suits, one in a sailor's shirt and slacks. quote:Bond moved to a point just aft of the open door of the pilot-house. There was one more detail which with luck could be settled now. He edged forward for a risky look. Yes. In the flooring by the pilot's seat was a brass-edged trapdoor with a countersunk ring at its centre. Bond settled back and waited, a mere couple of strides from the fifth man's back, knife in hand. The argument continues between the men who boarded the Altair and Litsas, who insists that he had already dropped Bond off at another island. quote:Complete silence, except for the faint creakings in the cruiser's superstructure. Then a man's laugh, shockingly out of key with the atmosphere of strain. Then the lunatic metallic chattering of the Thompson, sounding flat and echoless across the water. A loud moan, Bond had a glimpse of Litsas grabbing for the place on the roof of the deckhouse where the Beretta lay hidden under a folded tarpaulin. The man near Bond moved at the same moment, flung himself into the pilot's seat and pressed a stud on the panel. Two powerful engines came instantly to life below decks. This is a swerve from Fleming's Bond! He doesn't even know if this guy is a villain or just a hired sailor, but he takes no chances and kills him in an incredibly brutal fashion. I can't recall any instance in Fleming's books in which Bond actually killed someone who wasn't attacking him without knowing if he was an enemy, except for his few ordered assassinations. Also, this is one of the most gruesome kills Bond has made yet. He strangled Goldfinger and Blofeld to death, but now he's soaking himself in blood slowly stabbing a man to death. quote:There were yells and shots from the Altair, but Bond had no time to spare for them. He darted one glance for'ard. The enemy there was crouched behind the gunwale, pistol in hand, evidently trying for a shot at Litsas. Bond dropped to his knees, shoved out of the way the legs of the man he had stabbed, got his finger through the brass ring of the trapdoor and heaved it aside. The roar of well-tuned machinery and an engine-room smell came up at him. He moved to the deck immediately outside the doorway and there, swiftly and methodically drew from the pouches at his waist the four Mills grenades. Each was surrounded by a half-inch-thick protective coating of heavy-duty grease from the Altair's stores. Again he made no delay, but with quick deft movements grasped one grenade after another in his right hand, drew out the safety-pin with his left index finger, and tossed all four down the hatchway before the seven-second fuse of the first had had time to release the firing-pin. The enemy cruiser is burning amidships, and another muffled explosion blows out of the deck aft. Pushing the thought of his killings out of his mind, he swims back to his own yacht as dawn approaches. quote:‘I think two of them went off,’ said Litsas, ‘but it was hard to tell. The fuel was exploding too. Anyway, it was enough.’ There's Bond dissociating from violence again. He fakes coldness to disguise his own traumas. quote:‘Oh, they asked very many questions and I was the stupid peasant – perhaps you saw some of that. Then one bloke stayed with me and the other two went for'ard to look at my daughter sleeping on the cabin-top and to make sure the dangerous criminal James Bond wasn't hiding in the fo'c'sle. Then … but I must let Ariadne tell the next part.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UbAgtI7CCI Amis served in the Royal Corps of Signals for 3 years, but I don't know exactly what he did or what weapons he qualified in. It's not unexpected that he may have been trained on the Thompson, as Britain was badly short on submachine guns in 1941 and relied mainly on Lend Lease guns and the Lanchester (a copy of the MP 28) until the Sten could be put into production. One thing he did do was get investigated by MI5 as a communist! quote:She took Bond's glass with both hands. They were shaking. He put his arm round her shoulders as she drank. ‘That was where young Yanni turned up,’ Litsas put in. ‘He said he didn't want to be sent to bed like a child before the trouble had even started. He wanted to help. So he went to his bunk and got out his knife and stood on the little ladder that comes up from the fo'c'sle. When the first bad man was knocked over, the second bad man was getting ready to shoot at Despinís Ariadne. But unluckily for him his back was to Yanni. The distance isn't more than about a yard and Yanni can walk like a cat. He came up from the fo'c'sle and shoved four inches of the best Sheffield steel under our friend's left shoulder. He gave no trouble after that. Bond may have just accidentally recruited the most badass crew he's ever had. quote:Bond shuddered. He had had to get used to the idea of involving innocent outsiders in the kind of savage, unpredictable violence he traded in, but to have brought about the initiation of an adolescent into the ways of killing was something new to him. He hoped desperately that the relative unsophistication of Greek youth would protect Yanni from the progressive intoxication with lethal weapons that, in an urban British lad of his age, could so easily result from such an episode. The alternative was not to be thought of. He asked with assumed eagerness, ‘What happened at your end, Niko?’ The Authorized Biography of 007 will give this passage a little more meaning... quote:‘Oh, that was nothing at all. My chap had had the common sense to get his revolver out, but when the Thompson started up the poor devil couldn't help moving his eyes off me for a second. I kicked his gun half out of his hand then shot him on the face. Child's play.’
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# ? Apr 8, 2020 18:13 |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T3aOMqPF6Y
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# ? Apr 9, 2020 01:21 |
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It's like if Captain Morgan was a Somalian pirate fuckin
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# ? Apr 9, 2020 03:33 |
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Runcible Cat posted:And a note from M explaining why the boss is going to Greece to plant bombs personally, I hope. (snip) Somebody fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Apr 9, 2020 |
# ? Apr 9, 2020 11:54 |
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Exactly my take Amis’ writing. Somebody fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Apr 9, 2020 |
# ? Apr 9, 2020 12:16 |
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I hope I'm not the only person who checked to see if the capitals in that spelled out a Secret Message.
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# ? Apr 9, 2020 13:35 |
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Please don't quote stuff like that, because then I have to edit your post as well. Just report it. Thanks.
I'm the Book Barn IK. Feel free to PM me or email bookbarnsecretsanta@gmail.com if I can help you with anything.
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# ? Apr 9, 2020 15:39 |
Chapter 12: General Incompetencequote:It was a beautiful morning. Out at sea the rising meltémi was blowing the tops off the waves, but off the southern shore of Vrakonisi it did no more than impart a pleasing sense of motion to the slightly flawed surface of the water, as if a giant mirror of liquid blue stone were perpetually moving south and perpetually renewing itself from the edge of the land. And on the land, in the house on the islet, all that could be felt was a mild breeze, gusting a little at times and fluttering the natural-coloured linen curtains, raising the corners of the papers on the long pale Swedish desk by the window, but cool and delicious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y22tPP6Hhs0 Greece is regarded as one of the most beautiful and relaxing countries in the world, which is quite funny for something that wasn't "a country" for a long time. The cradle of western civilization was actually a mixed group of warring states that got annexed by several empires from Alexander the Great to the Ottomans. In addition to the mainland there are over 200 inhabited islands, which all developed their own cultures over the centuries. It says a lot that Homer considered it realistic for a journey from what's now Turkey to the western end of Greece to take 10 years. quote:Sitting at the desk with a glass of tea before him, Colonel-General Igor Arenski felt comfortably relaxed. This was his first undercover assignment outside the Soviet Union, though as a high official of the KGB (Committee of State Security) he had naturally made frequent trips to foreign countries in the guise of trade delegate, manager of cultural mission and the like, and had worked for over five years as a counsellor at the Russian embassy in Washington. Arenski was originally part of the MGB under Beria, making sure to work as inauspiciously and anonymously as he possibly could to avoid getting any sort of attention as a potential enemy. Ironically, one aspect of him helped: he's a homosexual. This was considered enough of a vulnerability that nobody expected him to risk a grab for power. Now Beria is dead and the old guard toppled, and the unqualified nobody is the safe choice for any job. quote:At last, bored with the play of sunlight on the most beautiful water to be found off any European coast, Arenski sighed and glanced at the file that lay open in front of him. It was necessary to go through the motions of work in order to preserve good habits. His small blue eyes moved idly over the topmost sheet, although he knew its contents by heart. The closing lines ran: Amis makes an unusual formatting choice to reflect translated foreign language. quote:The general had quickly mastered his irritation and spoke amiably. It was a rule of his never to antagonize anybody, not even a worthless peasant like Mily who ought to be doling out bowls of soup at a labour camp. We finally found someone who disapproves of Greeks more than the protagonists! quote:Mily flushed and said humbly, – I'm sorry, Comrade General, I didn't think. Arenski heads down to the shore where one of his Greek staff is watching the white dinghy row in. They've been ignoring his orders to turn back, so Arenski listens to her. She's shouting that she's a friend of General Gordienko. quote:Arenski fingered his pendulous lower lip. What was happening was inexcusably irregular, but he recognized with some weariness that he could not afford to send this person away. And there was another consideration. He said with fair cheerfulness, ‘Tell them we don't know any Mr Gordienko, but the girl and her … her escort are very welcome to come ashore for a chat.’ Sir, he is 16. quote:The girl faced him. ‘Do you speak English?’ Yanni will shiv this guy. quote:Arenski swallowed and drew himself up. By a tremendous effort he managed to smile at the girl, introduce himself, and say, ‘Let's sit down in the cool, shall we?’ The GRU hasn't really been covered in Bond, which left the general Soviet intelligence apparatus (be it SMERSH, the MGB, or the KGB) or SPECTRE as the enemy. The Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye, or Main Intelligence Directorate, is the military intelligence agency. While the FSB and others answer directly to the Russian president (and the KGB at this time answered to the Council of Ministers), the GRU is under the military command chain. In addition to foreign intelligence work, the GRU also established the first Spetsnaz special forces group in the Soviet Union; their first publicly known mission would be at the time of publication in 1968 when they captured the Prague Airport during a mass uprising. The organization still exists as the GU, though Putin really wants to put back its old name. Does it surprise you? quote:‘Yes.’ Arenski still stared out of the window. I see Arenski is firmly in the Revolutionary era. quote:When this drew no reply, the general swivelled his chair round again and studied her impersonally. Eventually he drew in his breath and said in what he meant to be a kindly tone, ‘You know, Miss Alexandrou, you're not the sort of person one expects to find working for peace in a primitive country like this one. What can be your experience of the class struggle? Where are your roots in the workers' movement? You know what you are? You're a romantic. Drawn to Communism by sentimental pity for the oppressed and to Intelligence work by false notions of glamour. And this means –’ Amis is definitely sounding biographical here. He described his youthful flirtation with communism as a “callow Marxist phase that seemed almost compulsory in Oxford” and completely renounced it in 1956 after the brutal crushing of the Hungarian Revolution that has led to the term "tankie" for diehard Stalinists. By 1967 he had done a complete 180 and was now even supporting American intervention in Vietnam. quote:The girl cut in sharply. ‘General Arenski, I came here to discuss something much more important than why I became a Communist. There's a terrible threat against your country and against what we both believe in. I'm awaiting your instructions.’ Arenski is completely in disbelief at the story. Despite the Sino-Soviet split, he considers it "decidedly un-Marxist" to assume that China could let their pride and envy attack a Soviet conference. He's well aware of Bond as an international terrorist who recently committed two murders for personal revenge in Japan. As far as he's concerned, this is a personal spat between him and some rival gang and he's completely invented the story of Chinese spies to hook her along; remember at this point that they've only theorized that a Chinese agent is responsible because of the nature of the conflict and who would stand to gain from attacking the conference. They have no actual evidence of Colonel Sun. quote:‘May I ask a question, Comrade General?’ For the first time, the girl spoke with proper respect. Arenski dismisses it as a common mistake by some dumb local who didn't understand Ariadne's coded messages. There are too many alternative explanations for what's going on for him to consider the Chinese theory anything but a fantasy. What he wants is for Ariadne to bring him Bond so he can be interrogated and kept away from harming their operation. quote:‘Anything I can do, Comrade General …’ With this guy, it sounds like "unmolested" is a tall order. quote:‘Perfectly clear Comrade General,’ said the girl, getting up. ‘I'll bring him here as soon as I can, but you must give me a little time.’ Yanni knifes him, or Ariadne machine guns him. Either way. quote:Left alone, he paced the floor for a time, frowning. It crossed his mind that the notion of a Chinese attempt to sabotage the conference was not entirely fanciful. According to report, Mao Tse-tung had been in some odd moods recently, as his retirement approached. And the behaviour of the Red Guards, the new hostility to foreigners … Then the general's brow cleared. Fantasy must be catching. Overt violence on the scale required was unthinkable in peacetime, even granted the uttermost in neo-Stalinist irresponsibility among the Chinese leaders. Nevertheless, one or two points must be cleared up at once. This book is generally accepted to take place a year before the Cultural Revolution officially began in 1966, but it was written afterward so Amis had the benefit of hindsight when writing. Mao had already been purging insufficiently loyal officials, though the formation of the Red Guards actually had not occurred at the time of the book. quote:He went to the desk and rang a small brass hand-bell. Mily came in. All of the answers to Arenski's questions about Gordienko's assassination are predictable: the transmitter in Athens was defective and it took too long to repair it, which is why absolutely nothing about it or Bond's arrival had been reported. He thinks it's just like Gordienko to fail to keep his equipment in good repair and get himself killed in a fight between two bands of Western thugs. quote:Bond … Arenski was looking forward to the encounter. And not only that. It would be satisfying as well as advantageous to him to be able to tell the Minister, ‘I have a prisoner who may interest you. A Western gangster called Bond. No, oddly enough I found him quite easy to capture.’ Then, when the conference was over, Bond would snatch a gun and the general would have to shoot him in self-defence. Perfect.
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# ? Apr 9, 2020 19:04 |
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This man has far too little paranoia to be head of the KGB. No wonder he hadn't risen farther earlier in his career.
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# ? Apr 9, 2020 22:52 |
Lemony posted:This man has far too little paranoia to be head of the KGB. No wonder he hadn't risen farther earlier in his career. Per the passage I summarized, he decided that the best way to survive in the Stalin and Beria era was to be the most boring nobody in the entire intelligence apparatus. Make no enemies or friends so nobody ever considers you a potential threat to be purged or a resource to be taken advantage of. When he's confronted with this fanciful tale of Britain's most dangerous agent teaming up with a GRU operative to stop a Chinese plot against both sides, he's inclined to instead take advantage of it to gain his first moment of fame: kill James Bond.
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# ? Apr 9, 2020 23:06 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Amis received a positive reception for the low level of gadgetry and greater focus on realistic improvisation and spycraft, apparently expecting him not to keep along Fleming's path. I don't mind the reduction in gadgetry to be honest, even if Fleming himself didn't take it to the heights of absurdity reached by the movies. E: I have a feeling that last bit inspired a certain scene in Goldeneye. Somebody Awful fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Apr 10, 2020 |
# ? Apr 10, 2020 00:19 |
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Putin wanting to rename the GU back to the GRU surprises me a little - KGB and the GRU were rivals, weren't they? I'm surprised he doesn't name them the Unintelligence Directorate.
Rockopolis fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Apr 10, 2020 |
# ? Apr 10, 2020 02:32 |
Rockopolis posted:Putin wanting to rename the GU back to the GRU surprises me a little - KGB and the GRU were rivals, weren't they? I'm surprised he doesn't name them the Unintelligence Directorate. If you're nostalgic for the Cold War period when you got to be a tough KGB officer, it makes sense to want back as much as possible.
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# ? Apr 10, 2020 03:00 |
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Rockopolis posted:Putin wanting to rename the GU back to the GRU surprises me a little - KGB and the GRU were rivals, weren't they? I'm surprised he doesn't name them the Unintelligence Directorate. Now that he controls them both it's to his benefit to have each of them as grand as possible.
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# ? Apr 10, 2020 03:10 |
Chapter 13: The Small Windowquote:‘Here they come.’ Amis is getting serious when he even namedrops the binocular brand. Amis likely has familiarity with the brand because they were based out of London and had some military contracts. quote:‘Go on, Niko,’ said Bond from his canvas chair on the tiny foredeck. ‘By the way, where is Kapoudzona?’ That's one thing Amis matches from Fleming's books: a nasty ex-Nazi doing war crimes. quote:‘Promise me you'll let me have him, James. I must kill myself. You understand that.’ The injured man just so happens to be that sole survivor from the attack on the Altair. Badly burned and with a broken arm, but still alive. He's suffering from shock, rambling his story to Sun. quote:Sun was tolerant about this. Hands on knees, he sat on an olive-wood stool in an upright posture that would have put a crick in any Western back in five minutes, and gazed almost benignly at the unimpressive-looking small-time crook from the Piraeus waterfront who had endured all this for two hundred American dollars. Between them Doni Madan lounged on foam-rubber cushions wearing a black-and-green check bikini, an incongruous get-up for an interpreter. Now and then she sucked noisily at the straws of a tall pale drink. Aris speaks again, with Doni's translation left unknown to the reader. quote:After listening in grave silence to Doni's rendering, Sun turned thoughtful. ‘How these people worship words. They have no concept of the relation of words to action. If I had to take a serious view of this fellow's actions, he could not be saved by words in any language. How can he not know such a simple thing? He is divorced from reality.’ That $50 would be about $414 today. Wouldn't be much of a bonus for a professional American hitman, but in Greece that dollar will go far. This is also a great subversion of the typical Bond villain seen in film at this time. Fleming's Blofeld was originally an honorable and fair terrorist before going insane, even returning part of a ransom if he found out the conditions were not met by his henchmen, but it had become common for the villains in the film series to execute anyone who failed them. Kronsteen, Helga Brandt, and Mr. Osato were prominent examples of Blofeld executing his own underlings for not succeeding even if they could theoretically be put to use again. It's been such a common occurrence as to become a notable trope with villainous masterminds like this, making Sun unusual for actually paying his hired assassins when they face trying situations that keep them from succeeding. quote:Still keeping in the shadow, he moved to the corner of the stone balustrade at the outer edge of the terrace. There, perfectly impassive, he waited, his half-shut eyes flickering over the wild and glaring but motionless scene before him. They took in nothing. The rattling chirrup of the cicadas beat at his ears without penetrating them. Even if his mind had been unpreoccupied, he would still have had no attention to spare for this irrelevant alien landscape. What was important was action, not its setting. History was a matter of deeds and their doers. If people had to ask where a thing happened, it was a scientific certainty that the thing itself was not unique. And within a short time, a good deal less than forty-eight hours, he, Sun Liang-tan, was going to have accomplished something unique. In surprisingly good spirits, Sun bounds back into the house and into M's room. quote:‘Good morning, my dear Admiral. Or rather,’ – Sun consulted the black dial of the Longines at his wrist – ‘since I know you sailors are meticulous about times of day, good afternoon. How are you? I hope you have everything you want?’ M, please contain yourself from these slurs! quote:‘No abuse, please, sir. It causes hot blood and obstacles to thinking on both sides. In answer to your question, of course it matters to me whether you have what you want, or at least your fair share of what's available here. Your strength must be kept up for your part in the experiences which lie ahead of us – which I venture to assure you, will be far in advance of anything we've so far undertaken together. And to keep you short of food, deny you access to the lavatory and so on, is no part of my plan. I will not have you subjected to any petty privations during your last days.’ He's probably not even surprised that Bond has somehow managed to get caught up in this. quote:‘Our habit of working in separate units, each answerable to the top, has had the curious result that while Athens was seeking to neutralize Bond at any cost I have been preparing to receive him undamaged. It will turn out my way. I'm sure we can both trust the resourceful 007 to find his way to this house. When he does so, some time tomorrow, perhaps, if not today, he'll be taken prisoner. In himself he's formidable enough, I grant, but he has no allies of any substance – merely a local whore who has done some messenger work for the Russians and a Greek Fascist cut-throat from the dockside taverns. Whereas very shortly I shall have five experienced men here to deal with him. The outcome is not in doubt.’ Sun's created a plan that only works because Bond is so lethal that you don't even need to instruct your henchmen to leave him alive, because he's leaving a trail of bodies in his wake anyway. quote:‘To adopt your own hideous jargon, it would be unwise of you to set too much store by your superiority in numbers.’ M managed a grin. ‘Bond has successfully taken on far worse odds in the past. Organized by much more dangerous intelligences than a sadistic Chinese infant living in a world of fantasy. Say your prayers, Sun, or burn a joss-stick or whatever you do.’ That would be a stick of incense burned as a religious offering. quote:The colonel showed his inward-pointing teeth. ‘Burning is a topic you should have the tact to avoid, Admiral. How is the skin on your chest?’
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# ? Apr 10, 2020 05:11 |
Speleothing posted:Jumping back to the previous thread, which I just found in the Goldmine, I want to chime in and say that the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang movie is an abomination and a mockery and that every copy of it should be destroyed. The book was one of my favorites as a young child, and I was absolutely horrified at how they had mangled it when we borrowed the movie from the library. They didn't even get the color right. I still want to make the fudge recipe from chitty chitty bang bang one day.
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# ? Apr 10, 2020 19:39 |
Chapter 14: The Butcher of Kapoudzonaquote:‘The general was very worried by what I had to tell him,’ said Ariadne. ‘He wants you to go see him and have a talk. I think he proposes to join forces with you. He said he needs your help. After the interview, of course, you're free to go if you want to.’ No need to worry about Ariadne! This is an interesting group for a Bond book. While Bond has had allies before, he hasn't really had this sort of dynamic where he has two or three with him virtually the entire time. It was always more like Leiter or Quarrel accompanying him for a few scenes before they separate, then the Bond girl gets involved for most of it. quote:‘That chap seems to be raving mad.’ Litsas was pouring ouzo for the three of them. ‘What was he thinking? You told him the whole story, I suppose?’ At least Amis seems to be keeping up Fleming's goal of depicting women as equally competent to men. quote:‘Oh, he's …’ – Litsas gestured – ‘one of the boys, is he?’ The number of spy agencies the USSR had (and the name changes and shake-ups they went through) could fill multiple books on its own. The right hand actively trying to dismember the left. quote:‘Rivalry!’ said Ariadne with a snort. ‘Jealousy and hate. A private cold war. You remember Oleg Penkovski, the GRU colonel who spied for the West with that English businessman Greville Wynne, and committed suicide in prison in 1965. ‘Yes,’ she went on as Bond looked up quickly, ‘the official story is that he was shot in ’63, but really they were keeping him in the hope of using him in a conspiracy against the Americans. Then by poisoning himself he escaped them after all. Anyway, everybody in the capitalist countries wondered why he became a spy – it wasn't money, you see. All of us in the GRU know that Penkovski was having revenge on the KGB, getting back at them the only way he could for what they'd done to him and his friends and …’ Oleg Penkovsky was briefly mentioned in the previous thread during From Russia With Love. He was the protege of Ivan Serov, the infamous torturer in the NKVD who betrayed Beria and led to his execution. Serov was the head of the KGB and GRU at differing times, but Penkovsky betrayed the USSR by providing the UK and US with information on the Soviet missiles in Cuba. British businessman Greville Wynne was asked to be a spy for MI6 and aided Penkovsky in smuggling information to the British government. Both of them were arrested in 1962; Penkovsky was sentenced to death, though it's still unconfirmed to this day if he was executed or committed suicide in prison. Wynne was released after a year in prison in a prisoner exchange and survived until 1990. Serov was stripped of his party membership and fired from the GRU. quote:‘Well, no help from the general,’ he said. ‘In fact we must keep out of his way. We've learnt that much.’ That one sentence was already more of a lecture I need. quote:Ariadne nestled against him. Bond grinned to himself. Not the least oddity of this adventure was finding himself promising a Soviet agent that Soviet interests would be safeguarded. If ever M heard about that, he would – I think M will be too busy ranting about the Chinese to care. quote:The main harbour of Vrakonisi, though comparatively small, is one of the best in the southern Aegean, safe and comfortable in any weather except a southerly gale, which is uncommon in these waters. Most volcanic islands rise too steeply out of the sea to afford decent anchorages – the bay of Santorini, for instance, is over a thousand feet deep, and you must tie up to the shore or to a communal buoy – but a primeval disturbance of the sea-bed has tilted part of Vrakonisi northward, reducing the angle of its cliffs and providing a shallow strip up to eighty yards or so from the shore. This area is bounded by two short moles, the western one visibly dating back to Venetian times. Here, after refuelling the Altair moored. Bond's Greek adventure seems more like Amis's reflections on his Greek holiday than Bond's actual thoughts sometimes. quote:They had a late lunch of fish soup made with plenty of lemon-juice, and half a dozen each of the admirable little quail-sized birds that fall to the gun all over Greece at this time of the year, accompanied by a sensible modicum of retsina. Litsas refused coffee and took himself off, explaining he must visit the harbourmaster's office, not merely to stay within the law by presenting Altair's papers there, but to keep his ears open and drop a few carefully-framed questions in that centre of island gossip. And there's our disfigured villain! quote:‘I'm prepared to go along with it, yes.’ Although he spoke coolly, Bond felt a surge of excitement. All day his restlessness at the lack of action had been sharpened by the fear that the right way to action might never be found, that the three of them might be ignominiously and hopelessly reduced to spending the crucial night in the offing of the islet, ready to pit the Altair and a rifle and tommy-gun against whatever mass-assassination weapon the Chinese had in store. Now at any rate they had a meaningful next step. But there was something else first. ‘What was the second point?’ Ariadne suggests overwatch on the house from the yacht, but it'll be too difficult to avoid being spotted under the full moonlight. Suddenly, Bond remembers: the man hobbling down the hillside path must be the survivor of the boat attack. That would put the enemy hideout on the northern shore, where there's no overwatch on the Russian meeting. quote:Litsas's expression changed and his body grew rigid. His hand on Bond's forearm felt like heavy metal. He said in a strangled undertone, ‘He's here. Herr Hauptmann Ludwig von Richter. To your right James. Coming out of the grocer's. You can look at him. They still stare at the foreigners in these parts.’ "A chemical reagent turning everyone into human time bombs!" quote:Another thoughtful nod, but one that suggested a private train of reasoning being pursued. ‘There are millions of ex-army men. This one's an atrocity expert. That's what's so special about him. But why must they have one? And that gun still bothers me. How could you get anything big enough up that slope? And how was it brought here? Perhaps there's a sort of gun that –’ "Biggish dinghy thing." Very eloquent, Litsas. I see why you were hired. quote:‘There's a matter we can settle in those five minutes,’ said Bond. ‘Yanni.’ Bond knows what it's like to lose family. quote:Astern were the gay variegated tints of the harbour, sails, awnings, flags of a dozen nations and freshly-painted hulls showing among a dense thicket of masts, and above all this the natural colours of Vrakonisi itself, no less diverse, but grim and ancient, giant washes and scribblings on a raw pile of rock with a life-span measured in millions of years. To Bond's right Litsas was at the wheel, dark eyes narrowed, brown hands easing the bows round to starboard; to the left Ariadne stood poised like a statue, clothed marble, fine tendrils of tawny hair blowing forward above her ears in the evening breeze. And ahead, the sun going down like a fat incandescent orange and a hint of lead entering the steely brightness of the enormous sea.
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# ? Apr 11, 2020 03:43 |
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That has its quirks, but on the whole it's a really good sequence.
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# ? Apr 11, 2020 08:03 |
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chitoryu12 posted:This is an interesting group for a Bond book. While Bond has had allies before, he hasn't really had this sort of dynamic where he has two or three with him virtually the entire time. It was always more like Leiter or Quarrel accompanying him for a few scenes before they separate, then the Bond girl gets involved for most of it. I'm rather enjoying the team approach. Livens things up. chitoryu12 posted:"A chemical reagent turning everyone into human time bombs!" "Jurgen's goat explodes, but mine does not!"
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# ? Apr 12, 2020 02:29 |
Chapter 15: 'Walk, Mister Bond'quote:Bond sat on the moonlit hillside two hundred feet above water-level and longed for a cigarette. He had found a lump of granite the size of a golf-hut which gave him shadow and something to lean his back against. It was not a perfect observation post but it was the best that could have been hoped for after a hurried visual reconnaissance from the deck of the Altair just before the daylight went. Stationed at a roughly central point above and behind the five scattered houses marked down earlier as possible headquarters of the enemy, he had a direct view of two, could see a third by moving fifty yards to his left, and had a clear enough grasp of the positions of the fourth and fifth to make it impossible for von Richter's boat, even if it approached unlit, to put people ashore without giving away their destination. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yse8qJOvNys While the bouzouki (a sort of lute) is now a major part of Greek music and similar stringed instruments date back to ancient times, this particular one is actually a Turkish import from the early 20th century. quote:Bond peered at the luminous dial of the Rolex Oyster Chronometer on his wrist. Three ten. He had no doubt that his basic reasoning was correct and that von Richter would come. When he would come was another question. First light was favourable, but arrival at some other time could not be ruled out, even possibly well on into the following morning with everything out in the open, von Richter and his companion welcomed as house guests. That would almost certainly put paid to any reasonable hopes of effective counter-measures. Typically, Bond did not allow himself to pursue this train of thought, but he was coldly aware that this operation was becoming more and more of a slippery slope, on which not merely a false step, but miscalculation of any detail of the lay-out, could be fatal. Bond hurries back down the rocky hillside. Finding similarity between the grass and the golf course turf, he realizes it's been only slightly more than 3 days since he was at Sunningdale. He finally reaches a gully that leads in the general direction of the target house. quote:Cover first. He glided into the protective shadow of a slab shaped like the gable end of a farmhouse that lay across the lip of the gully as if it had fallen there yesterday, though it must have reached its present position before Vrakonisi was on any map. The nearest angle of the house was less than thirty yards away, its flat roof on a level with where he crouched; that could wait. A little farther off at about ninety degrees, von Richter was just stepping on to a miniature stone quay. Bond caught the shiny, hairless patch of skin above the left ear. A short heavy man with a round head, who had been making fast at the bow of the boat, now moved amidships and, with the help of von Richter's blond assistant, heaved ashore what looked like a large sports-bag. Bond craned forward. The bag bulged oddly and was clearly awkward and heavy. There followed perhaps a dozen boxes about eight inches square, of dark-painted metal as far as could be made out in the illumination of the one light on the boat and another, not much stronger, on a bracket at the corner of the house. The boxes too seemed heavy for their size. Then, incongruously, came two smart tartan-panelled, plastic-covered suitcases. So far, the unloading had proceeded more or less in silence. Now a voice spoke. Bond is denied his first chance at a view of Colonel Sun, as Von Richter moves forward and follows him into the house. The assistants continue going back and forth from the boat, bringing in a parade of crates and suitcases past Bond's hiding spot, before turning the outside light off. Bond is surprised at the seemingly small size of the assassination weapon judging from the crates brought in. quote:He hung on for another twenty minutes. No change. He moved. Bond aims his gun at Von Richter's chest as he approaches the slope. He gets to within barely five yards, then abruptly turns and disappears. Finally, Colonel Sun comes out to give Bond a good look. quote:He stared hard at the tall spare figure as it approached, the shoulders and hips loosely jointed, rolling easily, the yellow face set in a faint smile, presumably in the direction of von Richter, but not altering its basic impassivity. Movements and expression gave an air of vast careless power. This was a man who would do anything. Bond was considerably impressed, but he grinned savagely to himself at this confirmation of another guess. All the way from China, by God! As Bond's eyes adjust, he can see the sky slowly turning blue as dawn approaches. quote:Infuriatingly, neither spoke for several minutes. Then the German said, ‘There! You see him?’ Someone should do a series of Bond fanfics where it's just every point in the book where Bond decides to just shoot the bad guy when he first gets the urge, and it progresses on from there. quote:‘Well, I think we've seen enough for now,’ said von Richter. ‘Willi and I will line up after breakfast.’ Himmler himself, Hitler's right-hand man for much of the war, would commit suicide while in British custody in May 1945. quote:There was more, but Bond stopped listening. The voices were retreating in the direction of the anchorage. He brought his gun up and waited. Perversely, the two did not cross diagonally from where they had been standing, but evidently walked straight to the water's edge. When they finally came into sight they were between seventy and eighty feet away. Bond dismissed it at once as not worth trying: the light was still poor and the chances of an effective left-and-right negligible. Unless they turned back … But no; awkwardly bunched from his point of view, they strolled past the upper-works of the boat and disappeared behind the front of the house. So much for that. Bond takes well over half an hour climbing down to the huge jumble of rocks on the edge of the cliff. There's a small rock platform at the end, which will lead down to the beach. As he climbs onto the platform, a man stands up on the far side and aims a revolver at him. quote:He was a tall man in a cheap dark suit, now crumpled and torn. Binoculars in a green plastic case were slung across his shoulder. He said in a thick Russian accent, ‘Good morning, Mister Shems Bond,’ and sniggered. Bond's only hope is to go on with the plan and hope he can find cover to dive away during the climb. He acquiesces and is forced to drop his gun. quote:‘Friend of you’ – a gesture towards the beach – ‘no good, eh? Now … walk, Mister Bond. Slow slow.’ This is why you go with partners! quote:‘He did,’ said Bond in a hard voice, remembering the look on the man's face.
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# ? Apr 13, 2020 20:58 |
Getting ahead of myself in food and drink testing. From the Spy Who Loved Me novelization, Noilly Prat vermouth and tonic with a dash of lime juice. Try it! I did 3 to 1.5 on tonic to vermouth.
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# ? Apr 13, 2020 22:35 |
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chitoryu12 posted:the Spy Who Loved Me novelization I'm so glad!
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# ? Apr 14, 2020 02:46 |
Chapter 16: The Temporary Captainquote:At noon that day the Altair was five miles due south of the port of Vrakonisi, running north-westwards. Visibility was excellent, promising fair weather to come, but the sea had again got up a little since the early morning, and the caique, moving diagonally across the direction of the waves, lurched clumsily from time to time. More clumsily in fact, than an experienced hand at the wheel would have permitted. Litsas approached George and his 14-year-old cousin/cabin boy at the harbor and offered him 3000 drachmas (half now, half later) to exchange boats for 36 hours. Litsas gave him strict instructions to head south to Ios and stay there until he returned later that day, but George is not a particularly responsible man. As soon as our intrepid protagonists were out of sight, he headed northwest with a plan to relax a bit in Paros before taking off just in time to reach Ios for the rendezvous. quote:Obeying instructions to help himself to whatever he fancied he poured a glass of kitró and settled down on one of the benches. He sipped luxuriously at the delicious drink – native to Naxos and obtainable only there, on Ios and on Vrakonisi – and reflected that it was perhaps a little early, but he was on holiday. The deceptively weak-tasting liquor, bland and viscous, with the bitter tang of the lemon rind in it as well as the sugared-down sharpness of the flesh, relaxed him. The drink is commonly called kitron, a citron liqueur. quote:Lighting a cigarette, he glanced idly out of the window. They were passing, at a distance of about a hundred yards, the islet at the south-western tip and, on it, the grand house where a very rich foreigner was known to be staying and amusing himself with the local boyhood. These people seemed to think they could do as they liked in the islands! George made a spitting grimace. Then he noticed somebody in a dark suit, perhaps the foreigner himself standing on the terrace of the house and apparently looking straight at him. As George watched, screwing up his eyes against the glare, the man hurried indoors, returning after a quarter of a minute with another. The new arrival examined the Altair for a longer period through binoculars which he then passed to his companion. More examination. A third man now came bustling out and joined the first two. All three seemed very interested in the passing boat. George could not imagine why. He got up, strolled out to the rail and gave a friendly wave. The three men, confused, give a wave that seems to grow in enthusiasm like they're faking it. Half an hour later, they're on their way to Paros; his fiancee Maria lives there, and he wants to show her parents that he really is a worthwhile husband by letting them all aboard and wining and dining them. quote:By way of immediate return for these efforts, George would be entitled to talk to Maria, to hold her hand and above all to look at her. He would not, of course, expect to spend much time with her alone. That had always been part of the system, the way life was arranged. George was tall and well built and dark-eyed, and working in the tourist trade brought him plenty of sexual opportunities. He took them. Nobody minded that, but a great many people would have minded a great deal if he had started trying to treat his affianced bride in public like a German or English office-girl on holiday. He knew that some of the younger people made a mock of the system, but it suited him well enough. (It had never occurred to George to wonder what Maria thought of the system.) It'll be a big fat Greek wedding! quote:However, at times when he was picturing Maria in his mind, as now, he would find himself trying to imagine in detail what lay beneath her spotless white dress, what that swelling bosom would be like to see and touch, what she would do when he … George pulled himself together. Such thoughts were useless as well as disturbing – if he had been backward and provincial, instead of modern and sophisticated, he would have called them sinful. The men hail to him in Greek, and George truthfully gives his and his cousin's identities as temporary captain of the Altair. The foreigners give a very shaky bluff about being part of a nonexistent Royal Hellenic Coast Guard and come aboard. George correctly figures they're looking for someone, and even if these guys aren't legit Coast Guard they're probably not wise to cross. quote:A little later, the three men completed their fruitless search of the Altair and confronted George on the afterdeck. Two of the party were foreigners, disagreeable-looking fellows with tight mouths; the third was fat and soft and looked like the worst sort of Greek, perhaps a Salonikan. One of the foreigners spoke in a language that sounded to George like a form of Bulgarian. The fat man translated. One of the men loses his temper and grabs George, screaming in his face in a language he doesn't understand. George is much stronger and simply shoves him off, demanding they get off his boat. quote:This was a much more serious mistake. The words were hardly out of his mouth before, slammed in the belly and pistol-whipped behind the ear, George was grovelling half-conscious on the deck. He heard his cousin cry out in protest, then in pain. The fat man spoke. If these guys are the Russians, they're not really living up to the claim that only the Chinese engage in crude "gangsterism." quote:– Now. Where is Bond?
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# ? Apr 14, 2020 17:14 |
Chapter 17: In The Drinkquote:George Ionides had been right in his impression that Bond and his companions had moved off east after parting company with him, but his questioners would not have found it helpful to follow this up. As pre-arranged, no sooner had the Altair disappeared to the south than Litsas had made a U-turn and headed straight back to Vrakonisi. By three o'clock the Cynthia was anchored in a small bay on the southern coast of the island and almost at its eastern tip, a full eight miles by sea from the islet. A dozen small craft lay near by and there were groups of figures on the shore. This 1960 Carver is a good example of what the Cynthia probably looks like. quote:With a gesture of finality, Litsas let down the tattered side-awning, screening the three of them from view as well as from the sun. I'll take it! quote:Ariadne, sitting on the deck with her knees drawn up and her gaze lowered, shook her head. Bond also declined. He had had enough of the thin soapy local brew. I have done this with the edge of a table. Works just fine if you're not a coward. quote:‘Now,’ he said, wiping his mouth, ‘again the battleplan, James, if you please. We can't have it too many times.’ The plan is to moor the boat at the small beach, then climb up the cliff that Bond had descended and take cover in the rocky gully that leads down to the house. Litsas and Bond will go uphill to cover the rear of the house, then make a team assault. Ariadne goes down the gully to the rock slab (where the Russian was shot by Litsas) and slowly approaches the house from there, shooting anyone who tries to escape down the hill, then cover the side door. If she doesn't hear shooting for too long after it starts, she's to assume they were both taken out and head down to the Cynthia to escape. Bond will give her a letter to take to the British embassy in Athens. quote:Bond's sleep, by Ariadne's side on an improvised bed of seat-cushions, was fitful and haunted. A formless being, a shape too fantastic to be identified, pursued him through his dreams. He fled from it across a perfectly smooth plain of marble. At the far side of this were geometrical rows of trees, all identical, all of formalized shape, like representations in an architect's drawing. As he ran between them, one after another exploded silently into a puff of flame, leaving nothing behind. When he looked back to see what was doing this, he found himself face to face with a brick wall constructed in a strange way, such that the bands of mortar were as broad as the bricks themselves. A distant humming roar became audible and the wall began to tilt towards him. Before it could collapse, Bond had forced himself out of sleep, but the steady humming continued. With a strong sense, even in his half-awakened state, of the illogic of the action, Bond got up, twitched aside a corner of the awning and peered out. Upon waking, none the wiser as to what occurred, Bond and Ariadne decide to go skinny dipping while Litsas sleeps. quote:‘This is rather daring of you isn't it?’ he asked. ‘I thought Greek girls would die rather than be seen naked in public.’ Ariadne can definitely join the ranks of good Bond Girls. She's even got a body count! quote:As she talked, she had been moving away from the boat and now took off towards the open sea, using a steady and unexpectedly powerful breast-stroke that looked properly economical of energy. Bond was impressed. At every turn this girl showed herself to be fine material. He followed her in the same style and found, not to his surprise, that he had to exert himself to catch up. When they were level he kept to her speed and they swam out side by side for perhaps a hundred yards. The water slid like silk along their bodies and limbs. Beneath, it was dark and dense; Bond guessed that they were already at a great depth. As they paused, he felt on his cheek a tiny breath of chilly air, a first reminder that the summer which coloured everything around them was not endless after all. "On a neighborhood watch list?" quote:‘That's it. Avuncular is how I'm not feeling. You're a lucky chap, James. Now Ariadne, you must dry and dress quickly. I want to show you the Thompson again before the light has gone. These bike-lamps of Ionides' are perfectly bloody hopeless.’ The Cynthia makes a long run under the moonlight, occasionally passing a small island or boat, before Litsas suddenly notices that they're being followed 600-700 yards behind. Bond says to point the bow at Vrakonisi and put the throttle to max, hoping to cross the remaining 2 miles and do any fighting they need ashore. As Bond takes the wheel, Litsas heads below and removes the engine governor to give them extra speed. quote:The sound of the engine rose abruptly to a shuddering whine and the Cynthia seemed to lean forward into the water. Litsas doused the deck lights and made his way aft. A few seconds later, there's the familiar sound of a machine gun burst and bullets splash into the water ahead of the runabout. They think it's Arenski's men, as Von Richter wouldn't be so daring as to attack them in the open. Because it looks like they're trying to capture them alive rather than just blow them up, Bond proposes that they fight as long as they can and then dive over the side to swim for it. quote:‘I'll stall them,’ said Bond. He hung on as long as he dared then called, ‘Very well. I am ready to surrender to you. But on condition that you release the girl who is with me. She has no part in this affair.’ Litsas hands Bond some brandy to swig as they race toward Vrakonisi. A mile out from the shore, they spot the enemy boat faltering and cutting their engine. Bond tucks his espadrilles into his waistband and is the first into the water, swimming as fast as possible before Ariadne can dive in after him. Litsas will be keeping the boat going until they're both out. The enemy boat suddenly crosses in front of them, firing. quote:After twenty minutes he was approaching the edge of the shadow of Vrakonisi cast by the moon, and thought he saw a swimmer almost dead ahead cross into it. Here anybody in the water would be practically invisible, even if the motor-boat passed within yards. He paused and looked westward, but could see nothing. On again, into the shadow, the beach coming into view only a little to the left, a change of course, the last hundred yards. But no sign of Ariadne. She must have found the beach unassisted and be lying down to rest. A few yards of shallows; Bond swam as near the water's edge as he could to avoid sea-urchins. He pulled himself upright; he was ashore. Ariadne was nowhere to be seen. He whirled round.
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# ? Apr 16, 2020 04:34 |
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chitoryu12 posted:
For vermouth drinks I like to keep it simple. On a hot day there's little more refreshing than a double vermouth on the rocks with the juice of half a lemon.
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# ? Apr 16, 2020 05:00 |
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This all makes me want to rewatch The Guns of Navarone.
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# ? Apr 16, 2020 22:49 |
Chapter 18: The Dragon's Clawsquote:‘Excellent. Excellent. Mr Bond is with us at last.’ And now the real fun begins. quote:Bond spoke sharply. ‘Where's the girl who was with me?’ At least it's better than Amis saying "Chinaman" or "Yellow Devil". quote:‘Bad luck has been a marked feature of this whole affair,’ he said in his curious accent. ‘You've certainly had your full share of it tonight, Mr Bond. Not even you could have predicted that our mutual friends the Russians would have advertised your approach so spectacularly – a real son et lumière effort, so to speak.’ Sun chuckled briefly at his own wit. ‘And then again you were unfortunate in being forced to swim ashore and thus allowing me ample time to get my little boatload of men along to your only possible landing-point. But then, that's life, isn't it? Since the Soviet attack boat had made such a ruckus, Evgeny was waiting on the beach to club Bond in the back of the head when he got out of the water. They stripped him of his weapons, but even took the time to dry his clothes off for him. quote:‘You've been most thoughtful,’ said Bond easily. ‘I've no complaints. I would like a little whisky if you have it.’ I think this is actually the first time Bond has ever drank his whiskey neat. quote:Sun nodded at Evgeny, taking his eyes from Bond for the first time. They soon returned to him. ‘Then apart from some minor discomfort and fatigue your present physical state is satisfactory, it seems.’ As expected, Bond does his "I'll never talk" routine. Unfortunately for him, Colonel Sun has no intent of gleaning information from him. quote:‘Quite soon you'll be taken to the cellar that lies beneath the kitchen of this house. There, using the most sophisticated of the interrogation techniques I've been privileged to be able to develop, I shall torture you to the point of death. But you must realize that this won't be an interrogation in the more common sense of the word, i.e., no questions will be asked of you and whatever information you may volunteer, whatever promises you may make, anything of that kind will have no effect at all on the inexorable progress of the interrogation. Is that clear, Mr Bond.' Bond has the startling realization that, for all intents and purposes, Sun is not insane. He has a perfectly clear, clinical interest in causing pain and agony. quote:Was there the thinnest, most fanciful hope that any of the others present might be feeling a stir of revolt at the idea of torture for its own sake, so much as a flicker of sympathy? He glanced stealthily at the two girls. The slim dark one had turned her head away, out of indifference, probably, rather than disgust. Her heavy-breasted companion was looking at him with blank dark-brown eyes; a frenzied performer in bed, he guessed, but as sluggish as a cow outside it. The Greek was openly bored, the Russian quite indifferent. By the doors to the terrace, the man called De Graaf stood watching Sun with a grin on his face, half contemptuous, half admiring. Only the doctor, who was sweating and biting his lip, showed signs of disquiet, and his support would be worthless. Bond considers his usual effort to engage in some violence at Sun, but has his arms seized before he can even finish measuring the distance. They lead Bond through the house and into another room. quote:M stood stiffly with his hands behind his back. He was pale and gaunt and looked as if he had neither eaten nor slept during his four days in enemy hands. But he held himself as upright as ever, and his eyes, puffed and bloodshot as they were, had never been steadier. He smiled faintly, frostily. Bond makes an attempt at kicking at De Graaf's shin, but his espadrilles don't do much. He does notice Sun checking his watch and frowning as he leaves, which suggests he's been thrown off his operation's timetable. quote:The door shut and the bolts slammed home. Bond turned to M. Bond fills M in on what they've learned about Sun's plan to attack the Soviet conference and leave their bodies at the scene. They're going to stop it, even if M demands that Bond leave him to die instead of slowing himself down. quote:‘I'm sorry, sir,’ said Bond at once, ‘but in that event I should have to disobey you. You and I leave here together or not at all. And, to be quite frank there's somebody else I've got to take care of too. A girl.’ Sun returns. They've knocked out and captured Litsas and Von Richter is going to explain the exact nature of their plan to Bond, because why not I guess? quote:The ex-SS man leaned back in his chair with an intent expression, as if conscientiously marshalling his thoughts. The scar tissue at the side of his head glistened in the strong light. He spoke without hurry in his curiously attractive drawl. The Stokes was replaced before WW2 and would be rather obsolete by the 1960s, but it was the first modern infantry mortar. It's an extremely simple design: a smoothbore metal tube with a fixed firing pin at the bottom, with a bipod and baseplate for adjusting the angle of the barrel. You just drop a round down the tube and it automatically fires when it hits the bottom. The design was excellent enough to be widely copied and has served as the pattern for most infantry mortars to this day. quote:‘There is the question of accuracy. Here practice is important. I have accustomed myself to our example of the mortar during ten days in Albania recently. I understand now its peculiarities. You will realize that, when the firer cannot see his target, as in our case, he must employ an observer. This is the job of Willi here. The Albanian government kindly placed at our disposal a piece of ground very similar to this terrain. Willi and I have worked out our procedure. He will climb to the hillcrest, to the point we have established as being on a straight line between our firing-point and the target. Just below the crest he will install a light. This will be my aiming mark and will give me direction. I already have a precise knowledge of the range. Almost no wind is expected at the chosen time. We have practised a code of signals so that I shall be guided on to the target. Our proficiency has become so that within a minute three bombs out of four will hit the house or the area immediately surrounding it. This will prove sufficient. In 1965, Albania had abandoned the Soviets and had a strong political alliance with China. It was notorious for its violent dictatorship, including the banning of religion in 1967 that resulted in the closure of all churches and violent suppression of anyone practicing faith or even naming their children with names taken from religious texts. quote:Bond's mind had become preoccupied with the thought that Ariadne had again asked a highly relevant question: what there was about this project that required a man with experience of atrocities. The answer was plain enough now. Its implications were horrible. But what's the explanation for why the elderly head of MI6 is personally firing a mortar at the scene? quote:Bond said, ‘How did your people find out about this conference in such detail?’
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# ? Apr 16, 2020 23:25 |
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chitoryu12 posted:In 1965, Albania had abandoned the Soviets and had a strong political alliance with China. Albania under Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labor was a basket case among basket cases. By this point it had already aligned with and then split from both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, and would later abandon China to dig itself into a paranoid autarky starkly represented by 173,000 prefabricated concrete bunkers installed literally everywhere.
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# ? Apr 17, 2020 01:55 |
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I want to say the plot is implausible, that noone is going to believe that the British sent their head of intelligence over to assassinate a bunch of dignitaries, but that's not really the point, is it? It's just rubbing in the humiliation to get all the VIPs killed in just the most Loony Tunes way possible. They might as well paint a tunnel on the hillside by the mortar and say they ran into it and died while trying to escape. Who Framed Miles Messervy?
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# ? Apr 17, 2020 10:32 |
Chapter 19: The Theory and Practice of Torturequote:The cellar was small, not more than ten feet by twelve feet by six and a half feet high. The floor bulged and sloped, and an irregular column of living rock leaned across one corner. Whatever had been left here by previous occupants was here no longer; the place was bare, swept and scrubbed. A stout wooden ladder led to a trapdoor in the ceiling. Along one wall lay a schoolroom bench; by another a small collapsible table and a kitchen chair had been placed. An unshaded but rather murky bulb burned in a bracket on a third wall. The question is: will this get more kinky than Fleming's torture? quote:Left alone for the moment, Bond sat and waited for Sun. More than anything, he longed for a cigarette. A jumble of images circled in his brain: the delicate moulding and coloration of Ariadne's face – M's firm handclasp of ten minutes earlier – the wordless plea Gordienko had made in his last seconds – the blood on Litsas's head – the game of golf with Bill Tanner, half a century ago – the terrible bewilderment on the face of the Russian as the rifle-bullet struck him – von Richter's amusement as he remembered his ‘experiments’ in Albania – the sprawled bodies of the Hammonds in the kitchen at Quarterdeck – Ariadne again. Then the figure of Sun, the loose powerful movements, the metal-coloured eyes, the sloping teeth, the dark lips. The man who was going to start him on an agonizing road to death. Bond found he was sweating with fear. Well, it's certainly got more variety. quote:After a dreadful minute of utter silence, Sun arrived. He smiled and nodded at Bond, like somebody greeting a favourite acquaintance, and sat quietly down next to the table. Bond at least gets him to promise that he'll kill her with a bullet to the back of the head, without her even knowing what happened. quote:‘It seems, Mr Bond,’ said Sun judicially, ‘that your ideas on the nature of sadism are in an unformed state. You said –’ Woof. quote:‘There's nothing I can do about it, is there?’ Is this Amis calling out Fleming's obvious insertion of kink into his books? quote:‘Oh, no, no, no.’ Sun sounded genuinely distressed. ‘I knew you were on the wrong track there. True sadism has nothing whatever to do with sex. The intimacy I was referring to is moral and spiritual, the union of two souls in a rather mystical way. In the divine Marquis de Sade's great work Justine there's a character who says to his victim: “Heaven has decreed that it is your part to endure these sufferings, just as it is my part to inflict them.” That's the kind of relationship you and I are entering into, James.’ Amis got his personal doctor, Dr. Allison (the one who appeared after Bond was drugged at Quarterdeck), to create this concept of a torture scene for him. quote:‘You must understand that I'm not the slightest bit interested in studying resistance to pain or any such pseudo-scientific claptrap. I just want to torture people. But – this is the point – not for any selfish reason, unless you call a saint or a martyr selfish. As de Sade explains in The Philosopher in the Boudoir, through cruelty one rises to heights of superhuman awareness, of sensitivity to new modes of being, that can't be attained by any other method. And the victim – you too, James, will be spiritually illuminated in the way so many Christian authorities describe as uplifting to the soul: through suffering. Side by side you and I will explore the heights.’ In one paragraph, Amis has described sadomasochism in a way orders of magnitude better than William Control does in an entire book. quote:As if flushed with excitement or some deeper emotion, Sun's cheeks seemed to have turned a darker yellow. His broad chest rose and fell under the white tee-shirt. Reversing an earlier judgement, Bond said critically, ‘You're boring me, Sun. Because of your mental condition. There's nothing more totally uninteresting than a mad-man.’ Just gonna call out Le Chiffre right here? In front of my salad? quote:A pause. The blood thudded in Bond's ears. From his slacks Sun brought out a tin of Benson & Hedges and offered them. You were fine with Kissy Suzuki just a few years before! quote:‘As you wish.’ Sun operated a leather-bound Ronson and puffed out smoke. ‘So then. Where? Where does a man live? Where's the inmost part of a man, his soul, his being, his identity? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpgbmy7w9pA This is the scene that got turned into Spectre's infamous torture chair. So much of the dialogue was lifted straight from Amis that his estate actually got credited in the film. quote:Crushing out his cigarette beneath his heel, Sun gazed over at Bond with a sort of compassion. ‘Just one more thing, James. This cellar is well on the way to being sound-proof, down here in the rock. And blankets and rugs have been laid on the floor overhead to seal it even further. Our tests showed that virtually nothing can be heard at a hundred yards. So you may scream all you wish.’ Can we exhume Kingsley Amis to get him to rewrite Revelator? quote:Then, with the brisk stride of a man anxious not to be late for an important engagement, Colonel Sun came over to the chair, with ferocious efficiency he seized Bond's head in a clamp formed by his powerful left arm and his chest. Bond strained away with all his strength, but to no purpose. In a couple of seconds he felt the tip of the skewer probing delicately at the orifice of his left ear. Teeth clenched, he waited. This horrifying sequence is interrupted by Lohmann, Von Richter, and Willi coming down. Colonel Sun wants Lohman to be of greater service to his movement, so he's been brought down to observe the torture and have his inhibitions lowered. quote:‘Well, what have you in store for us, Sun?’ Von Richter drawled the question. ‘We expect great things of you, you know. Everybody tells me that Peking leads the world in this field.’ This scene is terrible but also wonderful. quote:It was much later and he was back. There were thoughts again. Or rather one big thought that filled everything and was everything. It weighed down on him like an impossibly thick blanket, it came oozing up round him like the cold slime of the sea-bed. Bond had never experienced it before, but he knew quite soon what it was. It was despair, the terminal state of life, the foretaste of death. In comparison, the blood in his nose and mouth, the ferociously throbbing ache within his head – all this was nothing. So what has Sun called this girl down for? quote:Sun had spoken entirely without conviction. He paused awkwardly, as if turning over a page in his mind. Then the dried-up voice toiled on. ‘James Bond must be in the proper spiritual state to meet the death I shall give him. The deepest pitch of hopelessness and grief and misery a man can attain.’ He fell silent. The girl stared at him. ‘What you wish, sir?’ Ah. Now it's weird. quote:‘Will not!’ Working for Sun seems to be pretty miserable! quote:‘I have good idea. First I will kiss him some. Then strip.’ chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Aug 5, 2020 |
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# ? Apr 17, 2020 18:53 |
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That is one hell of a torture scene to offer anyone who doesn't think that being implicitly horrifying can work better than explicitly.
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# ? Apr 18, 2020 02:41 |
Chapter 20: 'Goodbye, James'quote:‘Something wrong here, sir. I think this man … dead.’ gently caress. That was fast. quote:The girl was sobbing, her hands pressed tightly over her mouth, her body bent at the waist. Lohmann, trembling all over, had got to his feet. Lohmann tells Bond he has half an hour before Von Richter and Willi start launching mortar shells. Bond is unsure about trusting him, but Lohmann is only doing it because he knows Sun was going to probably have him killed anyway. He gives Bond a stimulant injection; he'll have one hour of energy, then the crash will knock him out. He tells Bond where to find everyone. quote:‘What about the sedative?’ That's certainly an offer! quote:Bond had the knife in his hand. He glanced down at it and shuddered. I hope there's no consequences to that decision! quote:There was nothing friendly to be said to the man who, until five minutes ago, had played an indispensable part in Sun's monstrous conspiracy, so Bond said nothing. But, short of time though he was, he could not pass by the girl who had saved his life at such dreadful risk. He put a hand on the slumped shoulder and she looked up, her face still dull with shock, but no longer weeping. Bond narrowly dodges past Evgeny and returns to the stairwell. He silently slides the bolt and puts his hand on the unconscious Niko's mouth. quote:There had been a jerk and a grunt and a momentary struggle, then relaxation. Bond cautiously withdrew his hand an inch. Litsas is going to put in a note for M to have Bond given better medical training back at HQ. quote:‘He's expecting to be called soon. I'll knock. When he comes out, as I hope to God he does, your job is to see he doesn't call out; if he does, we're cooked. Then I'll deal with him.’ I just want to reassure everyone that when we get to Ariadne, she's going to be reacting exactly as you would expect. quote:‘All right,’ said Litsas shortly. ‘Has that stuff made any difference yet?’ This book is pretty loving brutal compared to Fleming's, and it's going to get even more violent this chapter. quote:Ariadne, under a thin coverlet on the floor, jerked to a sitting position and stared at him, but Bond's attention was all on the swarthy blonde in the bed. She too had sat up, showing herself to be naked to the waist at least. Bond hardly saw. He gazed into her bewildered dark eyes and brought his bloodstained knife forward as he approached. There's the Craig Bond. quote:Bond stood near her at the head of the bed. Ariadne, wearing brassière and panties, got up and came over to him. Their hands touched, then gripped. Litsas dumps De Graaf's body in the corner, taking a Smith & Wesson Centennial Airweight from his belt. They hear footsteps approaching. quote:As he stood for a moment irresolute, Ariadne sprang into action. She swung her fist and cracked Doni Madan hard under the jaw. Doni's head jerked back and hit the headboard of the bed. Within five seconds Ariadne was under the coverlet again, Litsas had put himself out of view beside a battered wardrobe and Bond had slipped behind the door. I like this girl. quote:Evgeny had no chance at all. He crossed the threshold, caught sight of De Graaf's body, exclaimed, began to move forward and took the knife under the fifth rib, his mouth muffled by Bond's left forearm. Bond is just on a stabbing spree in this book! Is this his highest body count yet? quote:‘Great – but too quick and clean,’ said Ariadne, looking down at the bodies. ‘Anyway, I hope it hurt like hell for both of them – the bastards!’ Bond fills Litsas in on the mortar plan. A window on the landing gives them a view of the mortar in the early morning light. Bond tells Niko to head to the rear terrace while he heads in from the sea, both flanking him from opposite sides. quote:‘Be careful. I'll have to be close with this bloody sawn-off barrel, or I might hit you. Has he got a gun?’ Von Richter's mortar is set up about 20 yards away on a natural platform in the rocks, across broken ground that won't provide any cover. Bond waits a minute for him to turn away from his sorting of ammo to look out toward the sky, and he begins running. quote:Before he had covered more than a third of the distance to the corner of the cliff his foot struck a loose chip of stone and immediately the German wheeled and saw him. Bond changed direction and made straight for the firing-point. With his feet stumbling and slipping on the smooth hummocks of rock, he expected a bullet at any moment. What he had not expected were the immense shuddering explosions from the mortar, driving into his ears: one – two – three … Then von Richter turned and waited for him, arms extended, with all the advantages of a higher and more secure foothold. But Bond caught him out of position by going for the mortar, not the man. He flung himself forward and brought barrel and base-plate and all toppling sideways, ruining any immediate prospect of further aimed shots. The pain lunged at him. He was halfway to his feet when his head seemed to dissolve and everything stopped. It takes surprisingly little time to find Von Richter, aboard the dinghy trying to sale away. Bond and Litsas simply drop from the quay onto the boat. quote:‘The major and I will have a little sail, James. We're in not much hurry now. There's the major's boy-friend to deal with, but he's got some way to travel. I'll be back to help you dispose of him.’ quote:The boat began to move away. Abstractedly, Bond watched it receding for a couple of minutes, then sauntered back into the house. He had reached the hall before he noticed the blood-spots. This is why you double-tap. quote:‘He forgot,’ he said. ‘He forgot that morphia can do a lot for a man with holes in his guts. It never occurred to him.’ "He's.....Chinese." quote:‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ asked Bond with unwilling compassion. The Nazis produced large numbers of organophosphate-based nerve agents, such as Sarin and Tabun, but never deployed them. The British developed an even nastier one, VX, in the 1950s; while it has rarely been deployed in wartime, it's most infamously been used for several murders, including Kim Jong-nam. Willi is taking a bad way out. quote:Bond said nothing. Awkwardly, he laid his hand on Lohmann's shoulder for a moment and hurried away up the ladder. Amis later found out that he actually got this one wrong. For obvious safety reasons, mortar shells must be armed by their high-velocity spiraling through the air. quote:‘What do you want, Sun?’ Bond was calculating distances in feet and split seconds, trying to visualize the shape of the corner behind him, estimating the possibility of leaping the lower wall to his left. He's got a point. quote:Sun's stained teeth showed. ‘I insist! I order you to –’ Then the eyes flickered and blood pulsed from the mouth and Bond vaulted the seaward wall of the gully, dropped on all fours into a bowl of scrubby grass only five feet below, scrambled to a stump of rock like an eroded tombstone, swung himself to the far side of it. The rumbling in his ears pulsated on. Sun's voice, feeble now, came through from above and half right. Pathetic, broken, and fully aware of his failure. Bond never gives Sun the benefit of a reply. With one final curse, he angrily throws the bomb into the gully. quote:Sun had slipped to his knees against the wall of the gully. The extraordinary eyes were open. They fixed on the knife Bond still grasped and their expression became one of appeal.
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# ? Apr 18, 2020 23:12 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 22:01 |
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quote:There's the Craig Bond. I dunno, given that he's just wussed out on making sure of Sun at that point, I read that as a bluff to stop her from making trouble.
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# ? Apr 19, 2020 00:09 |