In which Jen Sin yos’Phelium leaves his ring at Tinsori Light.
This is one of my favourite of the Liaden short stories, but I’m having the problem again of not knowing what to say about it, and not feeling moved to talk about things I might have made more of if it were my first reading.
The story does not give a specific date, though we know it’s before Scout’s Progress and on the other hand the presence of an autodoc on Jen Sin’s ship argues for it being later than Balance of Trade. I stuck it here because there was a gap, and I thought it fitted thematically with the stories we’ve been reading lately, with the concern about Old Technology.
The Old Tech autodoc that repairs Jen Sin is clearly related to the one Cantra had in her ship, complete with the “you’re now in perfect health, but you could be better than perfect” spiel.
The thing I’m wondering is: how did that set of coords find its way into Korval’s set of emergency destinations in the first place? Someone connected with Jela might have known about the Tinsori waystation, but that was in the old universe, and as Lorith points out the Light’s location and coords changed in the transition to the new. The optimistic option is that somebody marked the space down as a quiet, out-of-the way place to hide out for a bit (like Bechimo‘s favourite hiding place in Dragon Ship) without noticing or being noticed by the Light. A less reassuring possibility is that there was someone else in the past, less suspicious than Jen Sin, who had their ship repaired by the Light and then took it back into the wide universe.
@ Light keepers – as if there are more Lights and more Light Keepers than the Light and it’s Keeper at Tinsory. – Interesting
Jen Sin’s mission and the surrounding circumstances remain quite sketchy. Are Clan Sinon and their allies Korvals enemies or not? Jen Sin’s Delm is a nameless woman. The Time at which this happens remains unclear. The authors left quite a few blanks, so they could see where this Jen Sim ties into Korval history whenever they want to come back to it.
It’s no wonder the Lights sampling- and healing unit reminds of Sheriekas tech, the Station being one of the enemies Great Works (the gathering edge, chap 22 and Lorith memories)
The crystal drops which Sandaret Lorith and later Jen Sin are wearing remind me of the golden circlet used to up- and download a stored self in the old universe (String, strands and vines in motion). Uncle might use something similar. Though it is astonishing that the station can make a person so easily – maybe it has an alternative to the blanks Uncle finds so expansive or it just has a cheaper and easier way of producing blanks as well as a faster way to seed them and get them in shape. When Tinsori Light remakes a person the body is immediately ready to do things, no training weak muscles.
@ Standard station accommodation – a nice detail – them being slightly smaller than quarters aboard a courier ship.
I wonder at those visitors Sandaret Lorith remembers calling her the Keeper of Tinsory Light and at those enemies she remember being called down on the station and not faring well.
@ Keepers duties
Keeping the Light form doing mischief – that definitely sounds like still active Sherieka ‘Great Work’. More worrisome even that the station moves of its own violation and would be better pleased to be closer in, and wield its influence. In that context the Keepers memories of called in enemies fairing badly is even more troubling.
Interesting– that it is a matter of will to control the Light. Also that the Light behaves only sometimes – maybe when there is a worthy opportunity – as it had at the beginning of being in the Sanderat’s care. It’ll never be trustworthy.
@ Expanding edge of things
On one hand this reminds of Win Ton’s explanation “It is ad if we are a gathering edge of change that must happen to cure generation worth of errors, if we survive.” in The Gathering Edge ch. 27. On the other hand when reading something like – keeping at the expanding edge, maintaining the energy levels that keep the coords constant – I suspect some not yet explained sub-rational mathematical concept. And I ask myself is it the expanding edge of the new universe or of the decrystallization wave this refers to? And are both linked somehow? I also wonder how time might be linked into this. Is time at the edge of an expanding universe measured the same as in the middle of that universe?
It is some weeks now that I keep coming back to the thought, especially when I think of Aelliana:
Time is a function of place.
Not sure where I pick that up from.
@the Office of Old Technology at Headquarters
The first time this office is mentioned, isn’t it? I wonder what became of it.
Some hints as to when Jen Sin arrives at Tinsory Light:
Scouts have been established (which properly means scout academy has been founded)
Courier-ship has an auto-doc (I don’t think there was ever a time in the new Universe where there were no auto-docs on ships)
The Pilot’s ring is still commonly used
Korval had already established the Rock and the ship-yard as safe-places
Known Languages are Liaden, Trade and Yxtrang (so Liadens have discovered Terran and Yxtrang presence in their universe)
Tinsory Light clock shows 293 units (unclear what time units are referred to.)
Jen Sin states that his time is hundreds of years after the Great Migration.
Before Scout’s Progress, properly before Daav’s birth. (It would be irony if the female Delm was Chi and thus Kareen learned those cords during her early training for pilot – But after the Delm received the pin beam those cords were eliminated from Korval pilot education. Though I think Jen Sin must have been far earlier than that.)
Courier-ship has an auto-doc (I don’t think there was ever a time in the new Universe where there were no auto-docs on ships)
They don’t have auto-docs in Jethri’s time. One of the Uncle’s projects in Balance of Trade is finding a way to reintroduce them without people going “Ahh! Old Technology!”
I first assumed that Jen Sin reached Tinsori Light by accident. He was running for that jump point too fast, too much energy, and his ship was bombed. So I thought the nav system went bonkers.
But now, on re-reading, I see this: “Auto-coords had taken stock of Lantis as injured and hurt as she was, and, measured through some prior Delm-and-pilot’s priorities, cast them together through limitless space to one particularly appropriate destination, to one last hope.”
I can think of one Delm who might have had the foresight to plant such auto-coords into Korval ships — that crazy old Delm, Theona. The one who slept with Uncle — so he could have told her about the Light. Of course, the Tree prolly always sensed its malignant presence, even from across the galaxy. Tree could have told a Delm, like Theona. But Tree would warn them to stay away — oh, but being clairvoyant, maybe it knew how things would play out.
But then in Roving Gambler, Quin has the coords, too. Which seemed very odd, given the pinbeam warn-away Jin Sen sent out. I can see no reason for Kareen to have them, but her mother Chi did have some foresight, too, as evidenced by the protocols for attack she gave Mr. dea’Gauss. So….?
We know now, courtesy of Tocohl Lorlin — and thus after the fact — that Jen Sin died 198 years ago, during the clan wars. (Neogenesis). His ship does have an autodoc, but that fits with Balance of Trade, right? BoT came earlier by about 50 years??
Raise Delium. Deliver the packet. But he didn’t deliver it. When he escapes, ht still had the packet. He still has the packet. He says that several times. What’s in it? Could it matter now? So who is Clan Sinan and their allies? Could this be when the Dept of Interior first emerged? I hope not. I want the founder of the DoI to be an enemy we already know in some depth — maybe that nasty nasty Liaden from Balance of Trade.
I wonder if his ship Lantis ever got repaired by Tinsori Light. If so, he could now take her out for a spin. 🙂
Skip: that crazy old Delm, Theona. The one who slept with Uncle
Wait…what? Remind me when that happened, or rather where we read it?
We read about her in Ghost Ship and Dragon Ship
GS chapter 41. Theonna yos’Phelium, Delm, hired Uncle to build her pod 78 on icy worldlet Moonstruck. “She had known his relationship to the shipyards of the independents (like Bechimo) and his willingness to deal with nonstandard or forbidden tech.”
On Moonstruck, “he took fire from her madness. He had done what she asked. Everything she asked. After, they had coupled on the rough, icy floor…”
GS Chapter 40: “Theonna…I fear her orbit was more erratic than most. To her credit, she did bring the clan through a field thick with thorns…It may be that she had flashes of long-sight among her delusions.”
We learn also that she eventually asked Tree to give her a killing pod, cuz her mind was going. Which book???
She had a very close bond with Tree. Always talked with it. That probably gave her the sight. The seed pod put her to sleep and she never woke up.
While recovering from the Resurrection Chamber, cloned Daav talks with Uncle and Aelli about crazy Theonna in Alliance of Equals, ch 19. Tells how she died.
Daav calls her “my great-grandmother Theonna” so that might be about the time of Tinsori Light (198 years ago). Recall that Daav is about 70
Thanks, Skip, that explains it. I have two stories left to read, “Moonstruck” being one of them!
OH! I haven’t read that either. But I will. 🙂
Wait…that’s what I thought you meant in your previous comment???
I am confused. There is no book called Moonstruck. I just checked. Am I missing something?
In my previous comment, I quoted from Ghost Ship, and told about Uncle and Theonna making out on the worldlet Moonstruck.
Theonna is in Ghost Ship ch 40-41 and Allaince of Equals ch 19.
I was garbling my recollection, which was actually thinking of the story “Moonphase.”
I can think of one Delm who might have had the foresight to plant such auto-coords into Korval ships — that crazy old Delm, Theona.
The timing checks out: we know from Plan B approximately when Theonna set up the Defense Pods, and thus approximately when she was Delm, and it was before this story takes place.
The one who slept with Uncle — so he could have told her about the Light.
I doubt the Uncle knew about the Light back then; would it have taken him two centuries to solve the problem, once he knew it existed? Also, given how reluctant he was to get Korval involved in Neogenesis, I’m dubious about whether he’d have told Theonna, even if he did know.
But then in Roving Gambler, Quin has the coords, too. Which seemed very odd, given the pinbeam warn-away Jin Sen sent out.
I found that odd, too, but having thought about it, I think I see. Jin Sen’s warning resulted in the coords being removed from the list of emergency coords that a ship might select automatically, but perhaps they continued to be handed down by word of mouth, just in case a situation arose where a pilot might find it necessary to use them. (In “Roving Gambler”, Quin says something about having been warned that the coords are only to be used as a last resort, or possibly even only after the last resort had failed.)
His ship does have an autodoc, but that fits with Balance of Trade, right? BoT came earlier by about 50 years?
Yes, somewhere around 50-100 years earlier.
I wonder if his ship Lantis ever got repaired by Tinsori Light. If so, he could now take her out for a spin.
Alas, Lantis gets destroyed at the end of this story, precisely because she had been repaired by the Light, and Jen Sin didn’t want to risk anything repaired by the Light getting out into the universe.
The story doesn’t say whether the packet was on Lantis when she got destroyed, but I’m inclined to think it was; it seems tidier, somehow. And Jen Sin’s message to Delm Korval at the end of Neogenesis doesn’t mention it, which I feel like it would if he still had it.
Very thorough and succinct, Paul. I cannot argue with your reasoning, except to say that maybe –possibly — Uncle knew about the light back then, but didn’t worry because it wasn’t breaking down and going mad yet. And given how obsessed he was with Theonna — to the point of having to reclone himself to get over her — I think he might have told her anything. 😉
But I only suggest this as a possible way the coords got into Jen Sin’s ship. Nothing in the text supports my hypothesis, that Uncle knew about the Light 198 years ago.
@How Quin got the cords
I remember reading that Kareen had them, in fact gave them to Quin with warnings. Since she isn’t a pilot I suppose she found them during her study of old text and the code. Which might mean that this information was in the books Anthora removed from her town residence together with those books first mentioning Plan B.
Another, but less likely possibility would be that she learned of them before her mother decided on a second child – when there was still hope that Kareen might become a pilot, and Daav didn’t get them because by then the pilot training didn’t include them anymore.
@packet
Nice reasoning Paul.
@How did the cords get onto the list of emergency coords
I can’t imagine the uncle being aware of the light at Delm Theona’s time. As soon as he knew he would have sent a team to study and contact the light – and thusly the Light Keeper Lorin would have known of the Uncle’s interest.
It’s far easier to see Delm Theona seeing the cords and entering them in that list – either with or without the Trees help. In her case I also can see the Tree pushing Theona’s farseeing talent to the limit – and thus enhancing her difficulties until her mind became so unstable that Tree needed to curb what Tree had done.
I can buy that, Othin. That was pretty much my thought, too, in my first comment above: “Of course, the Tree prolly always sensed its malignant presence, even from across the galaxy. Tree could have told a Delm, like Theona. But Tree would warn them to stay away — oh, but being clairvoyant, maybe it knew how things would play out.”
Very similar – but not exactly what I’m thinking. I’ll clarify: I speak of the Tree experimenting with Tree’s dragon Theona. Of Tree interfering with and manipulating Theona’s talent. Maybe mixing her clairvoyant talent with its own. Maybe some of her craziness was not being able to differentiate between input of her own talent and the Trees. Or tweaking her hormones until her sensing threshold was so low that her input had too much white noise in it. Or using her clairvoyance to bust its own range of farseeing and then letting her see what it saw. Or maybe using Theona to learn itself how to farsee and thus create a new facet of its own talents. Properly a mixture of all the above.
This means that sensing the Light’s malignant presence and getting those cord’s wouldn’t have been easy. Tree may have sensed something not quite right on its own – but for getting further – more concrete information and developing a plan of action – extreme effort might have been required. It also means that Tree isn’t just a Soldier but a General using its Dragons as necessity dictates. Or Tree as Delm’s Delm. There are instances when Tree is called Korval’s overlord (Val Con). And Tree’s influence is not always beneficial. But its Korval children take Trees gifts undoubtedly because Tree’s purpose and Korval’s purpose align. – This is something that wouldn’t change, no matter whether Korval will remain a Clan or become something else.
I like that, Othin. And I buy it. Well reasoned.
@ Paul
I’m not sure where to put this, so please feel free to move it if you believe it would fit anywhere else better – but since we were discussing Tree:
@Tree – death rites
I wonder what Liadens do with their dead. I mean those that die at home. Burn them? Bury them? Do they have a family crypt? Feed them to the vultures? Something else?
And then I wonder if Korval does exactly the same as other Clans with their dead. Or do they differ? I kind of picture Korval to bury their dead near the Tree, so that with time Korvals dead become nourishment for Tree. But that is only guessing or wishful thinking. But then there would be quite a number of Korval that didn’t die at home and couldn’t be buried beneath Tree.
Harking back to “Naratha’s Shadow”: was the Light out of this universe every time the Voice did a search for shadows? Or is the Light on the opposite side of this universe and out of range for that one Voice? Or did the Voices, when there were more than one, divide the universe into sectors that each was responsible for? How did the Light escape being identified as corrupt?
More questions: Who, really, are/were the Sandaret? Are they like the Voice in their own way, their purpose to push against the encroachments of the Enemy, as found in Old Tech? Lorith uses her will to influence the Light… is she a manufactured sentient, sent by Uncle to direct the Light? Or did she, and the two others who did not survive, just happen to find it in the “storm”?
So the screens Lorith looks at show the count at 293 units. And although we have no way of knowing what these units actually measure, I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest they are standard years, because why not? We know the Light is sending itself back and forth from our universe to the old one…and maybe the units count only while it is in ours. Or…maybe the units mark only the years that Lorith “exists.” If the Light has been annihilating and then resurrecting her only to help it deal with visitors, these could be marking the number of years she has actually been actively existent, maybe?
Are we to interpret the events of Neogenesis added to this story, to suggest that all this time the work of the Enemy has been slowly leaking into the Liaden “bubble universe”? Even Jen Sin when he arrived, saw a place of pink and blue dusts, pirouetting against a void almost the exact same description of what Inki sees on their screens when Tochol uses Dosavi Mikelsyn’s local coordinates.
All I have are questions! Maybe now that Siegnur Veeoni is there with Tolly and Tochol, they’ll be able to sort it.
The sequence of events as I understand it goes like this: The Uncle builds the Light, it gets stolen and repurposed by the Enemy, the Enemy plant it at Tinsori, the Sandaret (who apparently live in that vicinity) volunteer to station keepers on it, when the great shift comes the Light is trapped between worlds and the keepers with it.
I think that the counter is counting the period when the Light isn’t in our universe, because Lorith looks at it when she’s woken up and thinks “that was a long one”. I also suspect that it’s not an ongoing counter, but reset each time: we’re told that the last three times she’s been woken it said 63, then 127, then 293, which can give the impression that it’s continually counting up, but in context I think what it’s saying is that each dormant period has been twice as long as the one before.
That makes sense, Paul. Thanks for answering *that* question. I wonder if we’ll find out more about it in the final book (can’t recall new title at the moment)?
In answer to my own previous comment: The book to be released in 2020, Trader’s Leap, has been described (by Sharon) as a direct sequel to Alliance of Equals—so can we hope it will touch on what happens at Tinsori after Tochol and Tolly, on the one hand, and Ren Zel, on the other, have done their separate parts to seal the crack in the universe?