In which a ship arrives at Surebleak.

Well, that’s a good start. I was pretty convinced that Surebleak was going to be put aside for another book, and that all the people who have been travelling toward it would continue doing so until it was time for the big finale. Maybe we’re getting out of the setting-up stage, and all the different threads are starting to weave together.

Although it seems there’s still some more setting up to do (well, fair enough, it’s the beginning of the novel), as two characters we don’t recognise arrive in Surebleak orbit.

Of the pilot, we are given a name, Emtraven Kvar, but no other personal details, not even pronouns. There’s the slight accent, but we’re told that that’s not genuine. And we’re told that the pilot is a “guard who had chosen to accompany her”, but not what she was previously being guarded from — or what was being guarding from her.

Of “her”, we also don’t get a name, but we do get some other details. She’s come to Surebleak seeking opportunity in disorder. She is concerned about being “inside the field”. She has a brother, who has people on Surebleak. (Whether the brother is on Surebleak is not yet clear.) I wondered if she might be another example of Korval’s habit of collecting extra relatives, but that doesn’t seem to fit with what she says about her reasons for coming to Surebleak. (I’ll be honest, I hoped for a moment that it was Lomar Fasholt, but that’s just because I want to see Lomar Fasholt again.) The Bedel also have a lot of brothers, but that doesn’t seem right either. She lacks patience for even orderly and precise communication, and has particular difficulty with laughter. (Another strike against it being Lomar Fasholt.)

I did wonder, seeing as this book brings us back to the rogue AI storyline, if she might be a rogue AI herself, but I’m going to say that the fact she has eyes to close rules that out. Also, on reflection, the AIs we’ve seen seem to handle communication pretty well.

I’m assuming, I find, that what the pilot tells Control about acting for “Cortz Infotainment Enterprises” is null information, just like the statement that the ship is registered out of Waymart. Otherwise I might wonder, just on the off chance, whether it’s connected in any way with Jon dea’Cort; it’s the beginning of a new book, so I tend to grasp at possible connections that might hint where the story is headed.

It’s previously been stated that Surebleak is within the Daiellen Sector; here it’s said to be in the Daiellen System. I’m not sure if that’s two names for the same thing, or if the Daiellen System is a subset of the Daiellen Sector.