Tag Archives: Borg Tanser

Carpe Diem – Chapter 2

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Lufkit
Neefra’s Tavern

In which Tyl Von sig’Alda enquires after a colleague.

This chapter gives us the first mention of the name of Val Con’s erstwhile employers, the Department of the Interior. It’s the first mention in publication order, obviously, but I’ve discovered on this re-read that it’s also the first mention in chronological order: the prequels are all careful to avoid mentioning the name, though there are places in them where one familiar with the Department’s style may recognise its hand at work.

We also get, in Tyl Von sig’Alda, a look at another of the Department’s agents in action, and a reminder that Val Con isn’t typical. Though Miri complained about him sometimes seeming to be two different people, that was really her good fortune, because that was a sign he was already working free of the Department’s influence; if he’d been one person, it would have been the person who would have killed her out of hand as soon as she ceased to fall within the Department’s narrow definitions of usefulness. Agent sig’Alda doesn’t have any hesitations on that score (and his lack of interest in Miri as a person is going to come back and bite him later).

Agent of Change – Chapter 24

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In which the Juntavas let Miri and Val Con go.

A nicely unobtrusive example of virtue being its own reward: if Miri hadn’t thought about notifying the dead stranger’s family, she wouldn’t have found the coord page before it was spaced, and they’d have been in a heap of trouble.

Well. Not that they’re not in a heap of trouble as it is, with an Yxtrang ship bearing down on them, but you know what I mean.

Agent of Change – Chapter 23

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In which Hostro’s message catches up with the Juntavas.

I had forgotten about Val Con’s near-death experience. Given some of the weird psychic stuff that happens elsewhere in the series, it might have some deeper significance that isn’t immediately obvious, but if it does I don’t know what it is.

Agent of Change – Chapter 22

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In which the Juntavas catch up with Miri.

There’s something tricksy going on with the timing in this chapter: the scene with Hostro and Edger is clearly Edger returning after one hour to hear Hostro’s decision, as promised two chapters ago — even though several days have passed for Miri and Val Con in those two chapters. Clearly there’s been a bit of stretch-and-squash going on in the relative placement of the scenes that don’t involve Miri and Val Con.

I wonder if it’s just a coincidence that the period of time Terrans and the Clutch have been dealing together is roughly the same as Edger’s age.

Up to now, when considering Miri and Val Con’s potential (and now newly formalized) partnership, the emphasis has mainly been on Miri’s preference for playing single’s odds and consequently not being sure what she’d do with a partner — but it should be noted that Val Con, whatever he might have done when he was a Scout, has spent the last few years playing his own version of single’s odds, and his response to the ship being boarded suggests that he could do with brushing up on the finer points of having a partner himself. Trying to take sole responsibility for one’s partner’s safety is not how it’s supposed to work, even when it doesn’t result in the two of you being separated and then individually pinned down and captured.

Agent of Change – Chapter 21

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In which Miri and Val Con discuss marriage.

I raise my eyebrow at Val Con’s assertion that who he marries is his choice and not the choice of the Clan. From what we’ve seen in the prequels, I think the Clan would have something to say about that, particularly since what he’s proposing is a lifemating that would deprive the Clan of any possible future use it might get from his marriage prospects. As Delm, of course, he would have the ultimate say. But he’s not Delm yet — and if he holds to the intention he goes on to suggest, to steer clear of Liad and Korval in future, he’s never going to be. (Then again, if he steers clear of Liad and Korval in future, he’ll be depriving the Clan of the use of his marriage prospects whether he marries Miri or not.)

It’s a sign of the new balance Val Con has worked out for himself that he’s comfortable again identifying himself as “Scout Commander”. He’s probably doing it at least partly to reassure whoever might be on the distressed ship, but I don’t think that would be sufficient impetus for him to do it if he were still in the spy-not-a-Scout headspace he was in before.

Agent of Change – Chapter 20

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In which Agent of Change Val Con yos’Phelium meets his death.

Hmm. The glossary in the back of Pilot’s Choice is quite explicit that “Entranzia volecta” is High Liaden, with the Low equivalent being “Tra’sia volecta”. Then again, Miri says she understood that bit, so maybe her complaint about Val Con springing Low Liaden on her applies only to the “cha’trez”, which is definitely Low Liaden. That just leaves the question of whether it’s likely that Val Con would mix High and Low Liaden in a single three-word sentence.

On a less confusing note of drawing-information-from-other-stories: Given what we know from the prequels about Liaden customs, the non-verbal components of Val Con’s leave-taking say a lot about his regard for Miri and his hopes for the future, though Miri herself is no more able to translate than she is able to translate the murmured comment that precedes them. (I wonder whether Val Con would have done the same if Miri did possess the knowledge to interpret, or if he only allows himself to make the declaration because it won’t be understood.)

Agent of Change – Chapter 19

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In which a Turtle on urgent business is no trifling thing.

Edger demonstrates that, while the Clutch are not inclined to rush into anything, they’re capable of acting rapidly and decisively when the situation calls for it. And that, if they’re slow to come to a conclusion, that just means that they’ve given it a lot of thought, not that they’re stupid.

Every time we get a mention of Val Con’s minor telekinetic ability, I go back and check the chapter near the end of Mouse and Dragon, and every time the chapter stubbornly continues to be about young Pat Rin being discovered to possess a minor telekinetic ability. I don’t see how that could be the result of a confusion, so I suppose we must take it that they both possess a minor telekinetic ability. I still wonder what happened to Pat Rin’s.

I don’t believe a word of the stuff about electron substitution as a basis for Val Con’s enhanced psychic abilities, by the way, but it’s part of a grand tradition in space opera of using post-Newtonian physics as a handwave for all kinds of entertaining nonsense and I’m prepared to run with it. (Since I’ve raised the subject, though, I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend the essay on What Quantum Physics Is Not from Chad Orzel’s book How to Explain Physics to Your Dog, which is educational, clearly written, and features an evil mirror-universe squirrel with a goatee.)