Surebleak Port
Office of the Road Boss
In which chaos occurs on a strict schedule.
The obvious assumption is that the Department of the Interior is behind this somehow. But is it intended to achieve something in itself, or is it a distraction from something else?
Surebleak Port
Office of the Road Boss
In which Delm Korval has visitors.
Well, there’s an answer to my question about how things would have gone if Emissary Twelve had done this on Liad, anyway.
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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.
Surebleak Port
Portmaster’s Office
In which the Clutch are a law unto themselves.
Now I’m trying to picture how things would have gone down if Korval had still been living on Liad when Emissary Twelve came to visit. Liad has a busier airspace than Surebleak — and an active planetary defence system — so Liaden traffic control might have been moved to express its displeasure more forcefully. I don’t know if it would have made much difference to the emissary, though; Turtles build their ships pretty tough.
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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Bechimo
In which Bechimo is unhappy.
My immediate reaction to Theo wondering why Val Con wants a future for Free Intelligences was “You have met Jeeves, haven’t you?” But I suppose that’s not a full answer; after all, Jeeves already had a specific judgement recognising him, so the new broader judgement might not make a lot of difference to him personally. But he’s not the only Free Intelligence Val Con knows; for one, there’s Tocohl. Come to think of it, I don’t think Theo knows about Tocohl yet.
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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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Jelaza Kazone
In which Theo has breakfast.
I wonder if we can read anything into the order that names come to Theo’s mind when she’s thinking of who she’d miss if she severed ties with Korval. Probably not much that we didn’t already know. Her father was obviously always going to be first, and she spent a lot of time hanging out with Luken last time she stayed at Jelaza Kazone, so it’s not surprising that he’s second.
Surebleak Port
Portmaster’s Office
In which the Portmaster has people looking over her shoulder.
Oh, yeah. And the survey team. I’d forgotten about them, what with so much else going on.
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Jelaza Kazone
In which Theo isn’t getting enough sleep.
For a short chapter, there’s a fair bit packed into it about Bechimo, his crew, and the relationships between them.
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