In which Val Con and Miri have a busy morning.
I like “a salute so smart it could have driven itself into town”. And Val Con’s interactions with the cat.
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Tag Archives: Frenzel
Dragon Ship – Chapter 34
Bechimo
In which Bechimo‘s crew assess the damage.
It occurs to me to wonder just what it means for a pocket of space to be empty. Most of space, by definition, consists of emptiness; what is it about this particular spot that makes it emptier than any other?
I’m also curious about the image Hevelin shows Win Ton of Theo dancing. That seems more like one of Win Ton’s memories than Hevelin’s; Theo wasn’t in the mood for joyous dancing the first time she met Hevelin, nor during the run to Codrescu and Velaskiz Rotundo that ended with Hevelin coming aboard. Although I suppose there’s still the trip from Velaskiz to Ynsolt’i, after Kara joined the crew; Theo might well have been in the mood to dance then.
I had been noticing that there have been more explicit mentions of the ship’s gravity in this book than is usual for the series. I suspect now it may have been leading up to this introduction of the Struven Unit which provides the ship’s gravity and is also connected somehow to the ship’s Jump ability. (I also suspect now that there’s some connection between the malfunctioning Struven Unit and the unusual behaviour of the flotsam.)
Dragon Ship – Chapter 13
Tradedesk
In which Clarence explores the shopping district and his options.
When Joyita first announced himself, he had two rings on one hand. Now he has three.
Although I’ve read the book before, I don’t confidently recall who it is that Clarence has run into, but I have a sort of feeling that it’s not as bad as it might be. And it might be pretty bad, considering the last time Clarence unexpectedly ran into someone who recognised him, it was one of his old Juntavas colleagues, and he ended up having to shoot the guy.
Dragon Ship – Chapter 12
Spwao System Arrival
In which there are several updates on Daav’s condition.
Although the narrator seems to be making a point of not referring to the pilot in the Uncle’s care as “Daav”, or by any other name – the only time he’s named is when the Uncle uses the name by which he knows him – which is interesting, though I’m not sure what the point might be.
Olwen sel’Iprith is another familiar name from the past. As she says, she’s an old colleague of Daav’s who knew him very well indeed; she appears or is mentioned in both the Daav-and-Aelliana books, and plays an incidental but unknowingly influential role in Local Custom.
Dragon Ship – Chapter 11
Middle Orbit
Departing Cresthaller
In which Theo and the Uncle have information brought to their attentions.
This is, I think, the most unambiguous statement we’ve ever had that this Uncle is the same one (for some value of “same”) as the one who appeared in the Crystal duology. Though I’m not sure which, out of all the peoples who crossed Cantra’s path in the duology, the Uncle is counting as “his enemies”.
And the bit about Dulsey’s eyes is interesting, because if she prefers grey eyes that indicates that her eye color is subject to change.
Speaking of names we’ve seen before: Ynsolt’i, which Theo mentions as one of their upcoming stops, is the planet where Jethri has his life-changing encounter at the beginning of Balance of Trade. And the Spwao system, with its two planets and then-brand-new Tradedesk Station, features in the sequel, Trade Secret (though that was actually written after Dragon Ship).
I notice Bechimo’s given up on protesting against being called “Chimmy”.
Dragon Ship – Chapter 9
Frenzel
Chaliceworks Aggregations
In which Theo counts her blessings.
The placement of the scene with Kamele says something about the authors’ priorities. If it had appeared a few chapters ago, it would have contrasted obviously (perhaps a bit too obviously?) with the scene at Jelaza Kazone which reminds us that the person Kamele is going to Surebleak to see isn’t there, and nobody knows when he’ll be back. Placed here, it instead invites the reader to compare and contrast the strong-mindedness of mother and daughter. It also gives context, for readers who didn’t know it or had forgotten, for Theo’s musings about her family in the following scene.
Dragon Ship – Chapter 8
Frenzel
Chaliceworks Aggregations
In which Chaliceworks is more careful than brave.
A couple of interesting things in the reactions to Theo. One is the bit about her “tools”, which presumably means her lacework.
The other is the furore about her working for inner calm, which suggests (especially the bit where they doubt any man could have taught it to her) that it’s not any of the usual calming exercises used by pilots of all genders. The fact that she learned it from her father makes me suspect that it might be the one he learned from the wise woman Rockflower when he was a young scout. In that case, the reaction would be proportionate (and not unlike the reaction it got from the Healers when Daav used it at the end of Scout’s Progress).
There was a meeting between Shan and Lomar Fasholt in Conflict of Honors, set eight years before this. Shan saw trouble coming even then, and so did she – she was making plans to leave Swunaket when she could wrangle her business into a portable form, and he offered her his assistance when the time came. If his most recent information is that she’s still trading out of Swunaket Port, it would appear she never took him up on that offer.
Dragon Ship – Chapter 6
Frenzel Port
In which presences make themselves known.
It would appear that Clarence is correct about the mysterious crowd being pitchmen and freeposters coming out from hiding in response to the Arrival Director’s departure, but my first thought was that they’d appeared in response to Theo’s attempt to disappear, like maybe they’d been standing in plain sight the whole time using the same technique, and using the technique herself had made them visible to Theo. Which would have been worrying, because it reminds me of the time back in Carpe Diem when Shadia discovered that there were more people surrounding her ship than there ought to be, and that time it was because she was being hunted by the Department.
I find myself wondering whether Clarence’s insistence on addressing Bechimo as “Chimmy” is part of an attempt to get Bechimo to address him as something other than “Less Pilot”.
Dragon Ship – Chapter 5
Frenzel Port
In which Bechimo receives the valcomvoggen.
Well, that confirms that the Uncle was among the Builders and took part in the building of Bechimo. Which brings us back to the question of why, by the time Bechimo headed out into the wide universe, the Uncle had ended up on the Disallowed List.
An interesting reaction from the Sector Arrival Director to the news that Theo’s here to deal with Chaliceworks Aggregations. Perhaps a sign that someone who deals with that organisation is considered somehow unlikely to be a good target for whatever he was going to try to persuade her to?
Dragon Ship – Chapter 4
Arriving Frenzel
In which Bechimo acquires an Executive Officer.
The bit about the Compressed Info Package containing all the ship information that port needs to facilitate docking makes me think back to Pat Rin and Cheever arriving at McGee, and Cheever reminding Pat Rin to tell the port that the ship used an old-style protocol. I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t be sending a CIP themselves, since it’s implied here to be standard procedure, and I’d think that kind of information would be in the CIP. On the other hand, Cheever says it’s worth mentioning because otherwise the port personnel might make an incorrect assumption, and I can believe he was figuring that, having made the assumption, they might skim over the relevant bit of the CIP and see what they expected to see unless it was backed up by a verbal reminder.
It occurred to me to wonder, while Bechimo‘s crew were dealing with Frenzel traffic control, whether they’re making much use of Bechimo‘s special method of space travel. Then I remembered that the last two chapters have been headed some variation on “Between Jumps”, which suggests not. Several reasons for that come to mind; one is that Theo probably still doesn’t know enough about the method to trust it, and another is that they’ve been specifically hired to test out a route that will presumably be followed in future by ships that don’t have Bechimo‘s advantages, so they need to follow it in appropriate fashion to get good data. And, of course, arriving by mysterious means would run the risk of annoying and puzzling traffic control.