Vandar
Springbreeze Farm
In which Meri and Corvill stay for the night.
Sometimes it seems like every time I choose to make a general observation not specifically inspired by the particular chapter at hand, it turns out I’d have done better to wait until the next chapter, either because it invalidates the observation or because it turns out to be an even better occasion to have made it.
(In other words, no eloquence will be forthcoming regarding the emotional and character aspects of this chapter either.)
And now it’s time for another general observation that hopefully I won’t regret when I get to the next chapter:
Because this is a re-read, I know already that it will eventually be established that the so-called Department of the Interior is a rogue organization with friends in high places but no official standing. So it’s been interesting, re-reading Agent of Change and now Carpe Diem, that so far there’s been no indication that the Department is not an office of the Liaden government, carrying out that government’s policies. (The one hint in that direction, perhaps, is Shan mentioning that he’s never heard of the Department — but then, to be unheard of is only what one might expect from a covert organization.) Val Con’s recollection here, in particular, definitely gives the impression that the Department was an authority that could require obedience — or at least that it had succeeded in convincing Val Con that that was what it was.
Because I have read I Dare (you fed me to them!”) I think Val Con was obeying Clonak ter’Meulen, who sent him to join the Dept.
Ps. Very emotional, this book. The suffering Val Con endures, and the comfort he finds in Miri. Also, his protectiveness towards Miri.
I don’t think Clonak ordered Val Con directly; the way things are phrased in the “you fed me to them!” scene has always given me the impression that Val Con has only just realized that Clonak knew what was going on.
And yet Val Con also says, “The Scouts gave me to the Department.”
But you could be right, maybe they just allowed the DoI to recruit him. That would certainly make more sense than actively passing him off to the DoI, which would lack subtlety. Clonak wouldn’t want the DoI to think he’s on to them.
In Carpe Diem, Liad, the Commander of Agents says that “Val Con’s recruitment as an agent was a five-year program”
In another place it says he was “on detached duty” from the Scouts to the Department (Carpe Diem, Load, Solcintra)
It implies that he worked as DoI Agent for “over three years” (Carpe Diem, Load, Solcintra)
So the five year recruitment has me a bit baffled. And I’m not sure how to interpret this present conversation between Clonak, VC, and Daav
@ “Val Con’s recruitment as an agent was a five-year program”
The way I understand this is that it took the DOI 5 years to plan and finesse the recruitment of Val Con – properly including the time they spent in making him an agent – and then Val Con was working as DOI agent for a bit over 3 years.
The Agent making shouldn’t have taken more than a few month though, if it took years to make an agent, than the DOI couldn’t afford to spend their agents the way they do.
Yes, they go through operatives like sand. Plus, it shouldn’t take about two years to create an Agent of Change, given their methods (a machine and possibly a dramliz, with some biomeds and exotic pharmaceuticals). Your interpretation does mostly suffice, though.
PA: had succeeded in convincing Val Con
Just a slight understatement, there…as we find out later!