In which Can Ith yos’Phelium finds a new seat.
I see an irony in the description of Can Ith’s preferred seating: “with his back against the wall, and most of the room before him”. Presumably, it’s the being able to see most of the room that makes it his favoured way of sitting, but on this particular occasion it suits him because he has his back against the wall in more ways than one.
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Orbit
Interdicted World I-2796-893-44
In which Tyl Von sig’Alda plans an invasion.
Somehow, the “invading Vandar” joke is less amusing applied to Agent of Change sig’Alda than it was with Val Con and Miri back at the beginning of the novel.
With all the information at his disposal, sig’Alda’s best guess at Val Con’s choice of landing place is wrong. It’s unlikely to be because of Val Con being in no hurry to get back to the Department, because that’s a possibility sig’Alda is keeping very much in mind. A more likely factor is Miri: one of the reasons Val Con chose to land somewhere remote and pick up the local customs gradually before striking out for the big city and the big radios was because Miri doesn’t have his training and he didn’t want to throw her in the deep end. That’s a consideration that sig’Alda is unlikely to have given due weight in his analysis; he’ll have noticed that Miri doesn’t have the training, but the idea that Val Con might defer to her inexperience is the kind of thing he doesn’t think of. In fact, with all the assessing of Val Con’s actions he does, he doesn’t think of Miri even once this chapter.
sig’Alda’s comparison between the local language and Liaden, which finds Liaden a superior language for establishing precedence and for insulting people in, tells us something about the Liaden language. That he considers this a sign that the local language is faulty and its speakers primitive and ignorant tells us something about sig’Alda.
The Garbage Run
In which Shadia Ne’Zame’s garbage run is enlivened with a mystery.
Several circumstances converged to produce this event. If the Bassilan rebels had not attacked and inspired the militia to go searching the hills, the yacht would still be resting on the ground, and there would have been nothing in orbit to tell Shadia that anything interesting had occurred.
I wonder if Val Con has thought about the possibility of the yacht being spotted by a Scout patrol. I don’t get the impression he has, though as a Scout he presumably knows the patrols exist; perhaps he’s had his mind on more immediate concerns. Or perhaps he’s thought about it, but realised that even if a Scout did find the yacht, they would do as Shadia did here, and he and Miri would be no closer to rescue. He might have done something about that, if the relaunching of the yacht hadn’t been so hurried; perhaps he could have left a message in the yacht before sending it up, explaining the situation. But then, the situation being what it is, he could well have been reluctant to send a message out into the universe without being sure who would find it or what response it would have.
For that matter, the situation being what it is, it’s not yet clear what response Shadia’s report back to base will have…
Liad
Trealla Fantrol
In which Nova learns more about the Department of the Interior.
With Miri and Val Con’s adventure in Gylles over for now, it’s back to see what Val Con’s relatives are doing on Liad. Or have been doing, or will be doing: I’m still not sure how the timelines of the various plot strands line up.
One thing I have realised is that as well as Val Con saying it’s been slightly over a month since their night on the town in Econsey, we have Miri — the previous day — saying that they’ve known each other for less than a month. Maybe Miri is rounding down and Val Con is rounding up, or maybe they’re using different months… in which case, it’s anyone’s guess how long it’s actually been.
That realisation led me to go back over the chapters covering the disputed period, looking for date markers, and here’s what I’ve discovered: if one figures on Miri and Val Con being in the hands of the Juntavas for about four days, and then another four days between that and their landfall on Zhena Trelu’s world (a much more likely period to survive on bread, water, and salmon than two weeks!), that not only fits all the available hints, but it can then be plausibly asserted that (with a single exception) the chapters of the novel up to this point are after all in their correct chronological order.
Imagine that: the authors knowing what they’re doing!
Vandar
Springbreeze Farm
In which Meri and Corvill stay for the night.
Sometimes it seems like every time I choose to make a general observation not specifically inspired by the particular chapter at hand, it turns out I’d have done better to wait until the next chapter, either because it invalidates the observation or because it turns out to be an even better occasion to have made it.
(In other words, no eloquence will be forthcoming regarding the emotional and character aspects of this chapter either.)
And now it’s time for another general observation that hopefully I won’t regret when I get to the next chapter:
Because this is a re-read, I know already that it will eventually be established that the so-called Department of the Interior is a rogue organization with friends in high places but no official standing. So it’s been interesting, re-reading Agent of Change and now Carpe Diem, that so far there’s been no indication that the Department is not an office of the Liaden government, carrying out that government’s policies. (The one hint in that direction, perhaps, is Shan mentioning that he’s never heard of the Department — but then, to be unheard of is only what one might expect from a covert organization.) Val Con’s recollection here, in particular, definitely gives the impression that the Department was an authority that could require obedience — or at least that it had succeeded in convincing Val Con that that was what it was.
Liad
Trealla Fantrol
In which Val Con’s family are concerned for his whereabouts.
There’s more about certain aspects of Liaden culture in this one chapter than there is in all of Agent of Change, although that’s perhaps only to be expected when Agent of Change was about a Liaden surrounded by Terrans and this chapter features two Liadens interacting on Liad itself.
I’m a bit puzzled by the mention of Val Con being a Scout Captain in a time past, because it was said several times in the later chapters of Agent of Change that his present rank is Scout Commander, and Commander is usually the rank below Captain (traditionally, it meant that although one was not a captain yet one had risen far enough to be put in command of an unrated ship) — and I don’t picture Val Con doing anything that would have got him busted down a rank. Maybe the Scouts just do ranks differently. Maybe it’s just a typo.
This is the first chapter not to contain any reference to Miri since almost the beginning of Agent of Change, which in a way underlines how much Val Con’s family don’t know about what he’s been up to.
Erkes Dormitory, Suite 302
Anlingdin Piloting Academy
In which Win Ton takes Theo to dinner.
Although, as when yos’Senchul and Veradantha included Theo in their dinner plans, it might be that the flight time and experience is as great a gift as the dinner. (Which is not to knock the dinner; one is getting the impression that a dinner at Howsenda Hugglelans is no small thing itself.)
When the kissing gets started, Win Ton kisses Theo’s temple, her neck, and her ear; it’s Theo who kisses Win Ton on the lips, a move he’s not expecting. We’ve seen this before with couples kissing across the Liaden-Terran cultural divide; between Liadens, face-to-face kissing is an especially intimate gesture not usually added to the repertoire until a relationship is considerably further advanced than this.
In which Ride the Luck and her crew test their capabilities.
Aelliana continues to develop. Daav is pushing her in ways he wouldn’t have when they first met because she wouldn’t have been able to handle them, and she is handling them.
One consequence of this which gives superficial pleasure to the reader, on top of the deeper pleasure at her progress, is that she’s now able to participate in the banter instead of just watching in dismay as it whizzes past.
For my favourite moment in this chapter, I’m torn between “Clonak — Clonak calls you Captain,” she told him, as if this might have someway escaped his notice. and “Thank you, but I — don’t believe I am hungry.” “Yes,” he said placidly, “I know.”