Bechimo
In which Theo has an opportunity to put her consensus-building training to work.
Getting a bunch of confused old machines to reach a consensus is likely to take a bunch of time. But, again, taking time is an advantage to Surebleak. Like the saying goes, as long as everybody’s talking, nobody’s shooting.
Jelaza Kazone
In which there is a new mission for the Pathfinders.
If Spiral Dance is being taken up again, one hopes that Nova didn’t re-engage all the safety features, or at least left her delm with instructions on how to disengage them at need.
One also wonders if anybody’s going to be provoked by yet another instance of a ship taking off from Korval’s back yard instead of a proper shipyard.
Bechimo
In which it’s time to call in the professionals.
I’m amused by the bit where Theo compares the current gathering to a faculty meeting.
If Bechimo does decide to pursue, as a long-term project, the question of how many devices from the old universe are still wandering around in the new, that might provide a reason beyond personal preference for the two Pathfinders to rejoin the crew.
Five Light-Hours out from Surebleak Libration Point Five
In which some spacefaring devices have things to say.
And now we know where the Department of the Interior sent its fleet of Old Tech war machines, though I think we’d all been assuming the answer anyway.
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Surebleak Orbital Influence Zone
Northern L5 Limits
In which Bechimo makes an unusual discovery.
Libration points, or Lagrangian points, are points in a system involving two large orbiting objects, such as a planet and its sun, where the balance of forces means a smaller orbiting object may maintain its position relative to the two larger objects. There are five such points in any given system; the first three tend to be unstable, meaning an object in one of those orbits will drift out of it over time, but the last two are stable when the mass ratio between the two larger objects is greater than a particular size, and it’s not uncommon to find smaller objects orbiting in a planet’s L4 and L5 points. For instance, the regions surrounding Jupiter’s L4 and L5 points are both home to sizeable clusters of asteroids orbiting in sync with the planet.
I don’t believe we’ve encountered Remco before, but we have of course heard the name of Carresens in several different contexts. One of which is that the Carresens family operates a shipyard at Margate, which among other things produced the Free Ship Disian.
Surebleak Orbital Influence Zone
In which Bechimo’s crew prepare to report.
The Theo/Bechimo part of the series isn’t as close to my heart as the Miri/Val Con part, and part of why is scenes like this, where the characters are talking over technical problems that mean something to them but don’t mean much to me. Miri and Val Con spend a fair amount of talking about problems that need solving, too, but their problems are usually about people, which I find inherently more interesting.
Jelaza Kazone
In which Delm Korval meets Emissary Twelve.
Way back when Edger was first introduced, there was a brief mention of the Ambassadorial Clans of the Clutch, whose members are shorter and svelter and speedier than the working clans such as Edger belongs to. It would appear that Emissary Twelve is an example.
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Surebleak Orbital Influence Zone
In which Bechimo discovers a new taste sensation.
Because of the name, and the fact that they’re first introduced as a breakfast food, I’d been picturing maize buttons as a kind of breakfast cereal, small and eaten in clusters. It appears from the description here that they’re more in the line of a pastry, large enough to be enjoyed individually (but small enough to be snatched up in a handful).
Jelaza Kazone
In which Korval is keeping its head down.
And now we’ve caught up with the final chapter of Neogenesis.
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Jelaza Kazone
In which Bechimo’s crew prepare for action.
Stost is missing the crew and seems like he’d welcome a chance to serve on Bechimo again, but hasn’t yet reached the point of coming right out and saying so except possibly to Chernak. Chernak might feel the same, but seems to be trying to talk herself out of it. Both of them are probably used to thinking that it’s not up to them where they get assigned, which would have been the case in the life they’ve left behind, but here and now I reckon if they expressed a preference it would have more effect than they’re used to.
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