Monthly Archives: April 2015

Ghost Ship – Chapter 19

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Number Twelve Leafydale Place
Greensward-by-Efraim
Delgado

In which Kamele starts asking questions.

It’s difficult to talk about a chapter that’s all “where might this lead” when it’s a re-read and one already knows where it’s leading.

One thing that’s already apparent, though, is that Daav might be right in thinking Kamele is best left out of Korval’s tangle, but he’s underestimating her if he thinks she’ll just meekly stay where she was left when she knows there’s something she’s being left out of.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 18

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Blair Road
Surebleak

In which Theo and Bechimo start getting to know one another.

Theo’s question to herself – “Who would have given you aid just now?” – isn’t exactly a strong counterargument to the idea that Win Ton would have done better to let sleeping Bechimos lie. If Win Ton hadn’t gotten himself and her tangled up with Bechimo and thus with the Uncle, Theo wouldn’t have been on Tokeo being shot at in the first place.

The Department’s analysts once again misjudge Korval by assuming it has similar motivations to the Department, and underestimating the degree to which Val Con has been making it up as he goes along. I also think she’s overestimating the importance of Natesa’s marriage in the Juntavas’ motivation; it was a personal decision, not a formal alliance, Terrans don’t necessarily put as much weight on marriage ties as Liadens do, and frankly the Juntavas have perfectly good reasons for considering the Department a threat entirely on their own account.

I don’t know if it means anything except that the authors want to keep the text flowing, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time anyone in the Department has accorded Vandar’s population the dignity of referring to their world by its local name instead of by its catalogue number.

Moonstruck was reported in Plan B as the location of Tactical Defense Pod 78. We haven’t yet been told anything else about it.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 17

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Portmaster’s Office
Tokeoport

In which Theo meets her new ship.

Here’s another mention of the Federated Trade Commission. What it portends that an operative of the Department is operating under their name, I’m not sure. I don’t think it’s likely that the FTC is simply a front for the Department. It might just be that Operative pel’Naria believes she can take their name in vain with impunity, at least here on Tokeoport where a large pile of cash is the best of credentials.

Either way, I’m thinking the Portmaster, whatever his other faults, shows good sense in not relaxing his guard before they’ve left the room.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 16

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Tokeoport

In which Theo is separated from her ship.

The woman with the too-large jacket and the too-large gunbelt harks back to the previous chapter, where the two robbers saw Theo’s too-large jacket and speculated that it was a “trophy”.

In the news report, a car containing a driver, cook and gardener in the employ of Korval returned “immediate fatal return fire” to a hostile action involving a former under-boss and an unspecified number of “backers”. Unless the driver was particularly fast on the draw, I suspect that means the cook and the gardener were also armed.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 15

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Arin’s Toss
Tokeoport

In which Tokeoport is not safe.

Theo says a lot of things about how she expects to get away from Tokeo soon and without trouble, which might be a sign that she’s not really confident and needs the self-reassurance. (Or that the authors are cranking up the foreshadowing. Or there’s no reason it couldn’t be both.)

I’m not entirely sure why Daav’s reaction is so violent to the seed pod addressed to Aelliana: it’s not the first time he’s received one since Aelliana died, and he took the one in I Dare much more calmly.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 14

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Arin’s Toss
In Transit

In which the Uncle has a job for Theo and the Colonel has a job for Clarence.

I’m still suspicious about what the Uncle is up to. Giving Theo a course change while she’s en route means that anybody who might have been paying attention to the flight plan she filed won’t know about her side trip, and might suggest that he has reason to suspect that somebody is paying such attention. The amendment won’t do anything to help Theo evade pursuit, though, since it still ends with her arriving at Ploster in the time frame that the Department is expecting her to arrive. More likely is that the Uncle is only interested in helping himself, and hiding his interest in whatever might be waiting at Tokeo.

We were told in the first chapter of this book how long Bechimo has been on the lam, so the mention of the tales being “older than the Plan” might give us a limit on how old the Department is. Or it might just mean that there have always been ghost ship tales, and in Bechimo‘s case they just happen to be true. In any case, it’s not much of a limit, since it’s far enough back to comfortably include every mention in the prequels of what might be the Department. (Although, since we’re doing comparisons, it still makes Bechimo a couple of centuries younger than Jeeves, and a couple more centuries younger than Edger.)

I’m a mite puzzled by Max, the tug pilot with the colourful hair. Pat Rin’s round-up of pilots in I Dare included Surebleak Port’s tug pilot with colourful hair, but her name was Dostie Welsin.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 13

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Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak

In which Clarence has a warning for Daav.

The comment that “the Department is a larger enterprise than even its operatives had guessed” is intriguing. I believe it, especially with the recent reminder that its operatives work in their own little boxes, not knowing or caring about the details of what everyone else in the organisation is doing. But does this mean there’s even more to the Department’s Plan than we’ve been told? (Conversely, if we’ve been told everything, what have the operatives been told?) And if the Department’s own operatives don’t have the whole picture, who does?

I take it that Daav’s anecdote about Andy Mack repurposing old company equipment is meant to convey that the Colonel is not only a practical man, but possesses the kind of practicality Clarence is in need of, that will not pay too much attention to credentials if they’re inconvenient. One suspects that not all, if any, of the equipment he’s been repurposing was, speaking strictly according to the paperwork, his to repurpose.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 12

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Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak

In which Clan Korval looks to the future.

Jelaza Kazone is currently housing all the members of the Clan, excepting the children and the two adults who are with them, and they are ten in number. That would be Daav, Val Con, Miri, Pat Rin, Natesa, Shan, Priscilla, Nova, Anthora, and Ren Zel: ten. Doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already, but does confirm that there aren’t any extra members of the Clan everybody’s forgotten to mention.

And just when they’re beginning to feel they’ve got their feet under them, in walks Clarence O’Berin, whose presence surely portends something, though whether good or bad remains to be seen.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 11

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Mozart’s Modicum
Starport Gondola

In which Theo picks up an antiquity and a tail.

Theo, as is perhaps only to be expected from someone raised on a Safe World, isn’t really up to speed on what might be involved in a situation like this. As the operative tailing her notes, she doesn’t realise she might need to take precautions against people like him, and although it’s good that she does notice she’s being followed, it’s not so good that she thinks confronting the tail directly is a good idea, and she’s too ready to take his explanation at face value and assume the problem is dealt with. It’s there in the meeting at the teahouse, too; it’s good that she started to leave when her contact didn’t give the right recognition signal, but if she really understood why elaborate recognition signals might be necessary in the first place, she’d have kept going no matter what her contact said next.

It’s enough to make one wonder what the Uncle was thinking, sending her out so unprepared. Did he underestimate the influence of her upbringing, and assume that a pilot with her reputation would know these things? Or does he want her to get into trouble?

The tea Theo orders, Joyful Sunrise, is the same high-grade blend Daav gives Master dea’Cort as a joke in Scout’s Progress.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 10

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Spaceport Gondola
Gondola

In which old machines make their presence felt.

That’s the trouble with signing on with the Uncle. On the up side, he has an interest in old things that’s useful for dealing with the Bechimo situation. On the down side, that same interest means that associating with him is not exactly keeping a low profile when it comes to certain other people who have an interest in old things like Bechimo.

When Priscilla was trying to find out about Tactical Defense Pod 77, Pod 78 was the only other one of the series listed as still active, with a cryptic notation she didn’t have time to follow up at the time.