Orbital Aid 370
In which Chernak and Stost are in space.
Well, now. This is interesting.
I thought for a moment our characters were Yxtrang, when it started mentioning the Troop, but no: the mention of the sheriekas makes it clear that this prologue goes all the way back to the last days of the old universe, and Chernak and Stost are the old kind, that were ancestors of the Yxtrang. And Pathfinders, which are presumably the forerunners of the Explorers.
They have a mission: to remove certain records from the archives of Loadzt, where “the histories of seven thousand worlds” were stored, and take them… somewhere. We haven’t yet been told where, but I have a theory.
“Last days” may be inexact: if I had to guess, my guess would be that this is the last day, the day of the Migration into the new universe. And if the Over Commander is aware of the plans for the Migration (I wonder if it’s Captain Wellik, M. Jela’s old commanding officer), the mission might be to convey the records into the new universe. It might be that the requirement to be in space at a certain time is so they’ll be scooped up in the Migration.
(If that’s a thing, that the Migration brought everyone in space at the time into the new universe, I don’t think it’s been explicitly stated before. It would explain how the new universe got so populated, if it wasn’t just the fleet in Solcintra orbit but also everyone who was in space fleeing from one planet to another. On more of a tangent, I find myself wondering if this means the Bedel have an uninterrupted history back into the old universe: their lifestyle means that most if not all of them are in space at any given moment, and all their belongings with them.)
It’s likely my thoughts are tending in this direction because I already know this novel is taking us back to Theo, whom we last saw discovering a ship that had come through from the old universe. That suggests it’s possible another one could come through, this time carrying Chernak and Stost and their cargo. (And reminds me of the worry I had at the end of the last Theo novel: if these can come through, what’s to say the sheriekas won’t?)
Also, I wonder what other cargo this ship is carrying, besides the Pathfinders. Is the ship’s crew under somebody’s orders, too, that they’re willing to run a blockade? Is it something to do with the “Bug Hut” with the ornately inscribed doorplate?
What do you think Orbital Aid 370 refers to? A year or a number?
You mean, do I think it’s “Orbital Aid #370” or “Orbital Aid, in the year 370”?
Definitely the former. From memory, the authors generally make it clear if a number in the chapter caption is a date, and also I don’t remember if the Crystal prequels ever said what year they were set in but I’ve always assumed it was a pretty high number given how large and set in its ways the galactic society was.
What the number might refer to, though, I’m not sure. Whatever an “orbital aid” might be, I don’t suppose a single planet would need 370 of them at once. Perhaps it’s the 370th to enter service, with most of its predecessors now being retired (that impression of a long history again).
That makes sense.
I think these pathfinders were part of the Consolidated Commanders. Ro Gayda’s group. I seem to recall reading in the Crystal Books that it was a small group, only about a dozen. Jela would have been among the four who never made t into the system, I’d guess.
And I’ve also been wondering if Rint dea’Sord made it into the new universe, and is pulling the strings of DoI. A Sherieka plan. Dea’Sord was suspected of dealing in Sherieka wares. Jela thought he might even have been an agent of the Sheriekas. If memory serves. Maybe the DoI is all part of a long-game Sherieka-conceived plot.
I didn’t get the impression that the pathfinders’ unit was small overall, more that there were only a small number of people available for the present mission who weren’t already tied up doing other jobs. (That’s clearer in a later flashback, though, if memory serves.) And then by the time we meet them, the small group sent on the mission has been whittled down by various hazards along to way to just Chernak and Stost.
I won’t be surprised if there turns out to be sheriekas tech at the back of the DoI, especially after the scene showing the investiture of the new Commander of Agents, but I’m not sure yet whether I think it’s being guided by actual sheriekas or just by somebody who found the tech and thought it would be useful. Even if it is a sheriekas plot, I think I would prefer that it doesn’t turn out to be Rint dea’Sord; that would feel like it made the universe smaller, that the one sheriekas agent who Cantra had dealings with is behind her descendants’ current problems.
Yes, I don’t want or expect a real Sherieka to appear, but I wouldn’t be too shocked if someone came throug the Migration with Sherieka tech and a vile agenda. Im not hoping for that to happen.
As for the other, I am basing my supposition that the Pathfinders reported to a Consolidated Commander on this bit, from prologue (and Rool only predicted Ro Gayda would die, IIRC)
“Their orders identified them as part of a group of a dozen, but the other ten—Of the other ten, four had never arrived in-system; two had arrived and had been pressed into local garrison service. Four had died in an explosive ambush at Loadzt, where the histories of seven thousand worlds were being destroyed by attacks from within and without.
As I said, it’s clearer in the flashback in a later chapter – I’ve looked it up now, it’s in Chapter Four.
The group of a dozen is not the Consolidated Commanders, or any other pre-existing group: it’s the twelve pathfinders who were called together by the head of the pathfinders corps, Over Commander Jevto, and ordered to go to Loadzt and retrieve whatever it is they retrived. The twelve pathfinders weren’t selected for any special quality except the quality of being at HQ when the orders arrived. All the casualties in the list you quote occurred on this single mission.
That said, Over Commander Jevto might be one of the Consolidated Commanders, or the officer from Third Corps HQ who gave him the order might be. But Chernak and Stost aren’t, and the group formed to carry out their orders isn’t.
Excellent! A key passage. I do tend to think consolidated commanders because the status quo military wasnt proactive and responsible, in old universe.
There might be a different explanation. If the possibility of transition to the new Universe isn’t tied into a specific moment (period) in time but into the wave-front of decristalisation – and expecting that this wave-front started to get enough drive for this transition with the sherikas attack on Solcintra (which was somewhat at the border between the inner worlds and the arms, or near enough that somebody from the Rim might think it not quite on the Arm proper) and ended several years, (maybe even decades) later when the last of the Inner Worlds fell. This wave-front would have been accelerating and collecting power not only because the process gained power and speed with each decristalised world but also because the Inner Worlds must have been spaced closer to each other.
This leaves A) the last remains of military rear guarding under Jelas Friend Wellik or B) the real High Command on the last few inner worlds. I’ll also assume in case B) that the latest of Lead dea’Syl’s Math and Theories was spread by those the military rear guard or High Command spies to the Part of High Command that gave orders to the Path Finders. Ok, this constitutes several different opinions in High Command, maybe also a group that would have joined the Consolidated Commanders if they had known or some that came late to see the wisdom of the Consolidated Commanders or maybe even some that finally took responsibility when no other option was possible.
@ Bedel Tangent and possible uninterrupted history
Is there an ancient connection between the Bedel and some of the “little Kin of Rool Tiazan” (who learned to stay hidden elsewhere, because the groundlings say they are dangerous and perversions – called sherikas-spawn and are killed out of hand)? I refer to those groups that were not on Solcintra.
It would explain the Bedel’s transition into the new universe – thanks to their sight they knew when to take ship. It also would explain their culture of living hidden among the gadje.
And does Korval remember the oath of service of those to become dramliz – in exchange for passage for so long as Jela’s tree survives? (Ok, this last question belongs to Crystal Dragon, chap. 32)
The idea of the final battle taking years to make its way inward to the Inner Worlds is not in accordance with my understanding of the situation, which is that once the sheriekas attacked in earnest it would be over very quickly, one way or the other – and also that the sheriekas had no need to work their way inward. I don’t recall precisely where, but I remember there being a demonstration late in Crystal Dragon that the sheriekas were capable of attacking the Inner Worlds any time they liked, entirely bypassing the defenses that were supposed to keep them out Rimwards.
I think some bits and pieces of Othin’s theory could have occurred– time and place displacement could also occur — but it is true that the Sherieka attacked whenever and wherever. I cannot recall the specific quote, but here is something:
The High Command retreated to an inner planet and soon after, it disappeared. Crystal dragon, chapter 28, Commander Wellik is standing over “tank map” pointing out “the new darkness” on the star map. He says, “Headquarters. or where headquarters isn’t anymore. We’re on our own.” But High Command had already pulled inwards (in Crystal Soldier chapter 20 Commander Horeb told Jela the Troop headquarters was retreating to an inner planet).
PA (in OP):to remove certain records from the archives of Loadzt.
And of course we find out later that these are not “paper” records, but samples, i.e., records of manufactured—or vat grown—humans, such as Jela (an “M”) and the Yxtrang.