Bechimo
Minot Station

In which Win Ton considers the future.

I wonder at the passing mention of “a local intrigue having to do with a weather prediction”. Again, it might be just a detail thrown in to add richness to the scene, but I find that I wouldn’t mind learning what that was about.

The description of Minot Station as fitting in a gap, being located between several powers, strikes me as possibly significant for a reason additional to the reason for which Win Ton mentions it: that description suggests that it might be described more briefly as unaffiliated, and thus a place the Ambassador to the Unaffiliated Worlds might find interesting.

I’m not sure I would trust my head in a sleep learner supplied by the Uncle even if it were certified in working order. Though there is the fact that the items were supplied for the crew, whom the Uncle wished only well as far as we know. (I note that Bechimo doesn’t seem to be bringing up the fact that the Builders told him to have nothing to do with the Uncle. The fact that the items have been stored, under the Founders’ Seal, since the days when they were happy to collaborate, might have something to do with that. Or perhaps he’s just getting more capable of making his own decisions.)