Volmer
Underport
In which Theo gets a better offer.
Though he mentions it casually, the Uncle’s account of Theo’s forefathers is a reminder that he Knows Things. Given Delgado’s emphasis on the maternal line, there aren’t many people who even know that Jen Sar Kiladi is Theo’s father, and the number of people who have accurate knowledge of Jen Sar’s ancestors is smaller yet. It raises questions about how the Uncle found out, and how long he’s known, and for that matter what led him to think it was a thing worth finding out about.
The ship Theo’s being offered, which possesses “both monetary and sentimental value”, is called Arin’s Toss, and was “built on an old Terran commissioner’s ship plan”. One recalls that Jethri’s father Arin was a Terran trade commissioner, and suspects a depth of history that’s not being elaborated on.
And the Uncle has a fractin in his money pouch. It’s been a while since we’ve seen one of those, long enough that it took me a couple of times reading those paragraphs to recognise what it was.
Oh, I had wondered what it was. The ceramic pipe is a fractin, huh? It feels fuzzy despite its hard clay surface and makes her feel comfortable. Wonder why he gave it to her.
Lots of revelations in this chapter, for me, upon re-reading it, far more carefully than I did some years ago.
In this chapter Uncle refers to Bechimo as a female, “she” and “her” but Bechimo told Jeeves he prefers the male gender (Ghost Ship). Did the authors forget this detail, or is Uncle just following the tendency to use feminine pronouns for ships? Yet he should know better, because he has met and built Bechimo.
The same narrator (Eileen Stevens) pronounces Bechimo differently. In Saltation, she says Betch-ee-mo. In Ghost Ship, she says Besh-ee-mo.
Uncle implies that he is hundreds of years old, at least. Theo’s eyes open wide. Lol.
They discuss clones, briefly. He suggests Win Ton might live hundreds of years if Bechimo heals him. Might be better than before, in terms of health. So is Win Ton virtually a clone now?
He also tells Theo about good old tech and bad old tech, but he doesn’t explain what makes it good or bad.
Excerpt
“The dissidents. The Dept of the Interior. The fools who have collected good and bad old tech without discrimination and use it without understanding. The Scouts, the old scouts, made it easy for them by putting these devices in safe places where they thought no one would find them….The keys, both of them together, are old technology, good technology, and they speak to some of the devices on this ship, which are also old technology. Bechimo is the next step, a hybrid built of the old tech, that was fading of age, and very advanced current tech of its time… That is the danger to the Scouts and to these dissidents, that what we built really was, and is, better than what they have and treasure.”
Since this book was written before Ghost Ship, I think it’s likely that, when the authors wrote this scene, Bechimo had not yet told them which pronouns he preferred, so they made the assumption.
(I always like to try and discover, or if necessary construct, an in-universe explanation as well, but in this case I am not sure. The Uncle has met Bechimo, but perhaps it just never occurred to him to ask what pronouns Bechimo preferred (though is that like him?), and when he was talking to Bechimo directly he wouldn’t have been using third-person pronouns so Bechimo wouldn’t have an opportunity to notice and correct his assumption.)
Dragon Ship is very clear about Bechimo’s name being pronounced “Betch” and not “Besh”; perhaps the authors had also noticed that the narrator was uncertain of the pronunciation and decided to give her an assist.
Ahh. Lol.