Tag Archives: Bechimo Captain’s key

Ghost Ship – Chapter 25

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Surebleak Port
Surebleak

In which Theo has luncheon with the Reform Boss of Surebleak.

Theo makes a good point well when she asks if Bechimo is really a starship. A certain amount of caution is understandable given Bechimo‘s history, but a pilot’s life is never exactly going to be safe. There are always risks, and you need to engage with them sensibly, but above all if you want to get anywhere you need to engage with them. It’s a big part of what pilots are saying when they say “the usual rules apply”. (For all the rules the Builders gave Bechimo, he doesn’t seem to have gotten that one. Maybe that was something he was expected to pick up from his captain and crew.)

Another data point for the question of whether Pat Rin looks like Val Con, supporting the idea that the resemblance is most striking if one is not expecting it.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 22

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Bechimo

In which Bechimo has doubts.

There are some interesting details about Bechimo‘s background in this chapter. The Builders clearly gave some thought to the question of what might happen if the AI running their more-or-less autonomous ship, with full control over the airlocks and life support systems and all, turned out to be the kind of AI that sci-fi horror movies have warned us about.

Also, we get what I think is the first mention of Bechimo‘s preferred gender.

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 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 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 3

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Jelaza Kazone
Liad

In which Delm Korval considers Theo’s problem.

Not sure what to make of Theo thinking that Val Con looks familiar for some reason other than resembling their father. She hasn’t met any of the other relatives yet, and I’m pretty sure she’s never seen his mother — or has she? They talked about the Caylon at the Academy, but I don’t remember if it was ever mentioned them having pictures of her. (And of course if that’s it Theo wouldn’t be able to place the resemblance, because nobody’s mentioned to her who Val Con’s mother is.)

As for her assessment of Val Con as biddable and lacking in spark, it’s a choice between politely suppressed laughter and a wide-eyed Bugs Bunny “She don’t know him very well, do she?”

Until Val Con mentioned it, I don’t think I’d thought about the fact that Korval doesn’t just have its house and Tree to get off-planet, but all of the many ships it’s collected over the years (those that aren’t elsewhere already). I suppose it will have to allow its several shipyards to be seized – unless they’ve already been sold off or otherwise passed into other hands – but Korval never leaves a ship behind.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 1

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Bechimo

In which Bechimo has hope.

But before the new adventure begins, we have a Bechimo‘s eye view of the events of Saltation, which is largely recap for the benefit of new readers and those who didn’t just finish reading Saltation yesterday, but slips in a few new details about Bechimo‘s capabilities and world view.

If Win Ton was the first person to step inside Bechimo in over five hundred Standard Years, that would appear to rule out the idea that Bechimo‘s a product of the shipyard mentioned in Trade Secret, however well the incidental details seem to fit; it’s been less than three hundred years since the events of Trade Secret.

Saltation – Chapter 40

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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.

Saltation – Chapter 38

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Conference Room Able
Pilots Guildhall
Volmer

In which the bad news keeps on coming.

Caratunk is a planet we’ve heard of before: it’s where Jethri’s father met Iza Gobelyn.

And we heard about that in the same chapter which first informed us that “there are secrets in all families”, a phrase that’s associated with a particular family, and a particular person who is likely to be the same person Win Ton is on his way to meet. It amuses me that he’s implicitly included in Win Ton’s reference last chapter to unspecified people “even less reputable” than Scouts or Juntavas.

The fact that Win Ton was at Nev’lorn when the fighting broke out is interesting, and offers an additional reason for the Department to have decided the time was right for overt action. (And prompts one to wonder what might have happened if he and Daav had encountered each other there.)

And now the bad news from home has caught up with Theo, having been somewhat delayed by Kamele’s lack of familiarity with the options for sending an urgent message long-distance to a person in motion. There’s an irony here: Theo does know where to find her father – or would, if she had the means to link together several things she’s learned recently – but, lacking those means, she doesn’t know that she knows.