Misfits

In which Ichliad Brunner’s family finds him embarrassing.

At no point in the story does anybody get around to correcting Tech Brunner’s mistaken impression of who Miri is and what she’s doing; on the contrary, it’s apparently confirmed when she shows up again speaking Liaden like a native. This is amusing for those of us who have read the novels and know Miri’s story, but I wonder how it would look to a reader who hadn’t and didn’t. Would the lack of any explanation of Miri’s behaviour appear as a gap in the story, like the lack of any explanation of what Korval’s up to?

(I also see that Skel’s fate is not mentioned, but I think in that case a reader familiar with the shapes stories take can probably figure it out.)

Neither of the dates at the beginning and end matches up neatly with the dates given in I Dare. The date given for the attack on Solcintra at the beginning is the day after the date given in the novel (though I suppose the attack might have lasted long enough to carry over into a new date, according to the Standard Calendar, and the novel neglected to mention it in the excitement). The final scene, which clearly takes place after Korval is ordered off Liad and decides to migrate to Surebleak, is given a date two whole days before the date on which those things occur in the novel.

(And now it probably sounds like I don’t like this story. I do, really, I’m just not finding words to talk much about the things I like.)


Tomorrow: We return to Theo Waitley – and, at last, to sensible chapter numbers – with Saltation chapter 33.

16 thoughts on “Misfits

  1. Paul A. Post author

    What I mean about “the shapes stories take” is that every story has a shape to it, the way it moves from the beginning to the end, and sometimes you can recognise the shape of a story and know how it ends before it gets there.

    You might read a story and say “I recognise how this goes: everyone’s baffled now, but the detective will have figured it all out by the end”, or “I recognise how this goes: he and she think they hate each other now, but in the end they’ll fall in love and get married”. Or, as the case may be, “I recognise how this goes: these two lovebirds better make the most of it while they can, because at least one of them will be dead by the time the story’s over”.

    Misfits doesn’t take the time to tell us that Skel got killed during the evacuation making sure Miri got out alive (that part of the story is only told in Carpe Diem), but maybe it doesn’t have to, because if you recognise the shape of their story, you know that’s how it goes.

  2. Skip

    A return to sensible chapter numbers. LOL! Those chapter headings sure do get hard to pin down, especially when they repeat.

    What? They got their dates mixed up? Nah.

    I liked this story, too. I wonder who the Scout is. Do you know?

  3. Paul A. Post author

    The Scout is named as Kon Rad yo’Lazne when he and Jack get arrested. He hasn’t appeared in any other story, that I know of. He does, though, appear in both parts of this story, in case you missed it: it’s mentioned near the end that he’s the one who Tech Brunner got in touch with to spread the warning about the fallout.

  4. Ed8r

    This story was quite satisfying. Since I didn’t notice the strange inconsistency in dates, all I had to do was enjoy it, in spite of knowing in advance “the shapes stories take.”

    My memory is failing more and more, however. Since I had read all of books 9-13 first, then began at the beginning, and then skipped over to Fledgling, following through to Neogenesis, and only *then* started in on catching up to all the short stories…I did not recall that the story we read in Carpe Diem was related to this planet (whew, I guess I do have an excuse). Somehow I had it attached to Surebleak and after arriving on Surebleak, never went back and corrected the names and chronology in my brain.

  5. Skip

    Ed8r, it’s not really related to planet Klamath, but rather to Miri. When Miri was drugged by the DoI agent at the winter-fair towards the end of Carpe Diem, she started rambling about her friend Skil — who sacrificed himself for her — and the disaster at Klamath.

  6. Ed8r

    Found this story to be even more satisfying the second time around…quite possibly because I am working my way through the list chronologically this time, so that what I learned in Carpe Diem was fresher on my brain than it had been the last time! I was a little bit better able to visualize and connect with the topographical and meteorological descriptions, and to see the relationship built between Ichliad and Miri. In fact we see more of that relationship, really, than the one with Skel, which is mostly left to our assumptions.

    I did find whatever transition was intended near the end of the final Klamath sequence to be merely confusing, near the end when suddenly, as Jack is saying The airlock will cycle three minutes from my mark. Mark. What is your name?” “Jamin Fowler, sir.” “Jamin Fowler, fly well.” . . . Finally at the end of this exchange we see an attribution to Brunner, not Jack. Huh…wha? I had to go back and read two or three times, and I’m still not sure I really follow.

  7. Ed8r

    Forgot: One of the things that added to my enjoyment this time around was my own greater understanding, or at least familiarity of, Melant’i plays. It’s really amusing to follow Ichliad Brunner’s observations of Delm Lysta and his mannerisms!

    First is early on, when Ichliad himself finds himself translating a line form one of his nadelm’s favorite melant’i plays in order to reply to Miri. Then we can skip to the final chapter/section of the story.

    His delm turned on him suddenly. Brunner recognized the play, and the actor whose stance was but poorly emulated.

    Then, His delm stamped feet, twice. Brunner wasn’t certain of the play from which the gesture was borrowed.

    Next, is the comm-call tone, which is stolen from the sounds of chiretas closing out the last act of A Clan Dissolute, the extended critical version.

    Immediately following, as soon as the delm answers and begins to listen, he interrupts, saying Hold Cousin, there’s a knock. Brunner winced again. Act II, Scene 6 of The Interminable as echoed in Act I, Scene 4 of the current rage False Melant’i.

    Finally, after Val Con greets Ichliad, we have The cards were thrust out imperiously, exactly the famous gesture performed by Nadelm Casaro in A Clan Redeemed.

    Five examples of his delm acting—or attempting to act—based on the plays rather than being “real.” The only real reaction we see from him is his “shock without artifice” in reaction to seeing that it was Korval who called upon the doorstep. What a marvelous character sketch for such a short chapter.

    And another question: Would we suppose chiretas to be the equivalent of crickets?

  8. Paul A. Post author

    Crickets seem like a plausible equivalent.

    I’m not sure what you mean about Jack. In my copy, it’s Brunner all the way through the scene; the only time Jack is even mentioned is when Jamin Fowler first comes on the radio, expecting Jack to be on the other end, and even there Brunner immediately says that it’s Brunner.

  9. Ed8r

    Well, you saw what I wrote above, right? That’s the way my ebook shows it, exactly.

    It is Jack that tells Brunner the airlock will cycle, right? And I showed you above that flowing right on from that statement (which I assume ends in “Mark,” as Jack’s last utterance) flowing on immediately is the question, “What is your name” with nothing to show someone different is speaking, or to whom, except that the person answers the question as “Jamin Fowler, sir.”

    p.s. I am reading out of A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 2, electronic edition.

  10. Paul A. Post author

    It is Jack that tells Brunner the airlock will cycle, right?

    No, I said already: Jack isn’t in this scene. When Brunner turns the communicator on, it’s Fowler asking, “Is that you, Jack?”, and Brunner answering, “No, it’s me, Brunner, the meteorologist.” From that point on, it alternates between Fowler and Brunner. It’s Brunner that tells Fowler the airlock will cycle, which he knows because Jack left him a datastick with the overrides (“Just gotta remember that I hold the overrides.”) in the safe along with the communicator.

  11. Ed8r

    Okay, working backwards from there, here is what shows in my ebook copy:

    [After Jack is taken away by guards, Brunner locks the door to the lab and removes “the communication device and a data stick.”]
    “Returning to the monitors, he cleared one, inserted the stick, and touched the ‘talk’ button on the communicator.
    ‘Jack?’ Cautious. Low.
    ‘Brunner,’ he answered serenely. ‘I am the meteorologist of record. You and your compatriots are in place and willing?’ ”

    Now that you’ve filled in the missing clues about what is really being asked at the beginning of the conversation, and Brunner’s correction, it all makes sense, but either you have elaborated on the meaning for me (for which, thank you…now I get it) or my copy has a few vital missing words.

  12. Paul A. Post author

    My copy has the same as yours. I was describing what I understood to be happening, rather than literally quoting what the story explicitly says.

    Now that I look at it, the authors are leaving a lot of work to implication in that scene, and I can see how it would be easy to get confused.

  13. Ed8r

    Coming back again, I was once again confused. I guess I find that the story leads one to jump to the conclusion that the inquiry for “Jack? Cautious, low” is Brunner thinking somehow he’ll find Jack on the other end of this communicator device, which (he notes) is not official issue. So until I came back and read your explanation yet again I just had to skip forward from my confusion and enjoy the ending. But I like it better when I *know* what’s going on!

  14. Paul A. Post author

    Yes. One of the things that makes it confusing, looking at it again, is the way it moves from Brunner pressing the ‘talk’ button to somebody saying “Jack?”: it’s entirely reasonable to assume that, having pressed the ‘talk’ button, it’s Brunner talking.

    For me, the confusion is always cleared up by the next line, but I can see how if you’re already confused it might just send you further down the wrong path.

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