GR translation: their own pitiable contingency here, in its midst

[Mike Jing]

4.a. A chance occurrence; an event the occurrence of which could not
have been, or was not, foreseen; an accident, a casualty.

This seems to make sense, given the next paragraph:

It isn’t safe, even inside, in the house . . . nearly every day a
rocket misfires. Late in October, not far from this estate, one fell
back and exploded, killing 12 of the ground crew, breaking windows for
hundreds of meters all around, including the west window of the
drawing-room where Katje first saw her golden game-brother. The
official rumor stated that only fuel and oxidizer had gone off. But
Captain Blicero, with a trembling—she must say nihilistic—pleasure,
said that the Amatol charge in the warhead had also exploded, making
them as much target as launch site. . . . That they were all
condemned.


On Sat, May 6, 2017 at 9:21 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
> V96.5-16, P97.40-98.10   How seriously is she playing? In a conquered
> country, one’s own occupied country, it’s better, she believes, to
> enter into some formal, rationalized version of what, outside,
> proceeds without form or decent limit day and night, the summary
> executions, the roustings, beatings, subterfuge, paranoia, shame . . .
> though it is never discussed among them openly, it would seem Katje,
> Gottfried, and Captain Blicero have agreed that this Northern and
> ancient form, one they all know and are comfortable with—the strayed
> children, the wood-wife in the edible house, the captivity, the
> fattening, the Oven—shall be their preserving routine, their shelter,
> against what outside none of them can bear—the War, the absolute rule
> of chance, their own pitiable contingency here, in its midst. . . .
>
> What does "contingency" mean here?
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