Day 283
Standard Year 1392
McGee Spaceport
Fortune’s Reward
In which Cheever has a few words on the importance of backup.
It’s not long after we last saw Pat Rin and Cheever, back near the end of Carpe Diem — they’re still on the same planet they were just arriving at then — but a bit of time has passed, enough for Cheever to go on leave and come off, and for Pat Rin to make several unsuccessful attempts to cut him loose.
It occurs to me to wonder where Pat Rin was planning to go to ground if he had succeeded in cutting Cheever loose. Since, as we are reminded, he is not a qualified pilot himself, that would have dramatically limited his options.
One of my favorite threads of character development is Cheever’s consistent pushing Pat Rin into his actual pilot capabilities, which had apparently been suppressed by his mother’s constant belittling.