Erkes Dormitory, Suite 302
Anlingdin Piloting Academy
In which Theo studies the ven’Tura Tables.
The comment I made yesterday about how much Theo is learning about Korval lately would have gone better with this chapter, it turns out. Too late now.
This chapter has the most detailed explanation of anywhere in the series about what it is the ven’Tura Tables actually do. And it is, I think, another example of the authors having a better idea later, at least when it comes to the bit about the Caylon Revisions involving a reconsideration of the very mathematics underlying the Tables; Scout’s Progress gave the impression that the mathematics was sound and the revision was more in the way of checking for calculation and typesetting errors.
Chelly is back, although by the sound of it only until he can arrange to go somewhere far away. Which doesn’t entirely surprise me, after what he’s been through.
If the chain of command in the dorm room goes Senior, First Bunk, Second Bunk, I wonder what it is that distinguishes First Bunk from Second. Is there an actual judgement of aptitude involved, or is it arbitrarily based on something like “person who happened to pick the top bunk” or “first non-senior to move their luggage in”? If it’s one of the latter options, Asu has no call get in a snit about Theo being First Bunk, since she turned down the first choice of bunks herself. (And if there’s a judgement of aptitude involved, I think Theo’s the right choice; as Chelly says, Asu isn’t malicious but she doesn’t think.)
In fairness to Asu, I feel I should note that although Chelly is described as leaving his bags “where Asu could complain that she’d almost fallen over them when she came back”, Asu doesn’t in fact do any such thing.
It was interesting to learn more about Aelliana’s revisions and how deep they went. I had pictured it like she used a new branch of math to refine the calculations, or maybe calculated a necessary constant to more decimals places which gave more precise coordinates for pilots.
I’m really looking forward to when Theo gets to meet Aelliana! A complex situation to be sure, but I’d like to see her mind blown at realizing her relationship to the revisor of the ven’Tura Tables.
When Theo and Asu first moved in, before they knew Chelly was bunked with them, Asu was claiming the senior position based on being older (their experience presumed to be equivalent). Now with Chelly bowing out she’s accepting Theo over her, with her proven aptitude. I’m gathering from that that the choice of senior isn’t a hard rule based on just one factor, and that as long as dormmates come to a consensus that the school may not get involved in the decision. In fact I think I remember there being something in the intro given to new students saying that things were fluid rather than rule-bound.
Are we given the information here? Or is it elsewhere that I got the impression that Aelliana’s revisions were based on whole new mathematical concepts she had recognized to be necessary in an expanding universe?
This might be what you’re thinking of:
“The whole point of the ven’Tura Tables — the reason they needed revision — is that space isn’t flat — and it isn’t static! And to describe what a non-static, dimensioned space is doing, you need a math that isn’t flat! That’s what Scholar Caylon did! She didn’t so much revise the Tables, as she revised the math that described the relationships”
Also, while I was looking that up, I found this chapter also contains a mention of Aelliana’s work on a proof for pseudorandom tridimensional subspaces, which I’d forgotten about.
PA: mathematics was sound and the revision was more in the way of checking for calculation and typesetting errors
Before we read the information about the actual mathematics being off, I had thought of Nathaniel Bowditch, who was an early American mathematician remembered for his work on ocean navigation. He is often credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation.