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Saltation – Chapter 37

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Conrad Café
Pilots Guild Hall
Volmer

In which Win Ton has overstepped.

This is one of those chapters where I’d probably have had a lot to say the first time I read it, but now it’s so familiar that I don’t remember my first reaction.

One thing I definitely didn’t think of the first time, since Trade Secret hadn’t been written then, is the way certain things that happen or are mentioned in that novel strike familiar echoes in the description of Bechimo‘s creation.

Incidentally, I’m intrigued by the name of the café. Obviously it’s not named after Boss Conrad of Surebleak, but perhaps piloting history contains some famous Conrad they’re both named after.

Breath’s Duty

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Delgado
Leafydale Place
Standard Year 1393

In which Scout Reserve Captain Daav yos’Phelium returns a favour.

Speaking of first published appearances, this is Kamele’s, brief as it is, and it gave me entirely the wrong impression of her until Fledgling came out. I blame the translators’ decision to use “mistress” as a substitute for whatever word they use on Delgado, because while it has the advantage of bypassing a lengthy explanation it fails to capture the actual spirit of Kamele’s relationship with Jen Sar. On the other hand, I admit there were also some failings of comprehension on my part, regarding (a) the actual likelihood of Daav getting in the kind of relationship that “mistress” implies, and (b) the fact, which is mentioned right there in the story, that they’ve been together long enough for her daughter to be grown up.

This may also be, even more briefly, the first published mention of timonioum.

One of the purposes of this re-read was to see what new associations would come out of the stories by reading them in a different configuration: what would come out of a story by reading it near another story I maybe hadn’t read it near before? In this case, a new thing that struck me was the first dissonant detail: after a couple of pages of Jen Sar Kiladi getting ready for a fishing trip, just as he always does, he pauses to run through the Rainbow pattern. Reading the story so soon after Carpe Diem, with everything it has to say about the Rainbow and about the Rainbow being a Scout thing, that really jumped out at me as a sign that Professor Kiladi isn’t the groundhugging academic he appears. It says, if one didn’t already know, a great deal about his background in a very few words.

Another association that I don’t think I picked up before this re-read is that Acting Scout Commander sig’Radia has the same surname as Senior Scout Cho sig’Radia, the friend and mentor of Daav’s daughter. Probably a relative, not the same person; “Phoenix” has established that sig’Radia has a history of producing Scouts, and this story says straight up that Daav doesn’t know her. (I wonder, though: I don’t think Kiladi ever actually met Cho sig’Radia other than through written correspondence, and if he did notice the connection Daav wouldn’t make anything of it while he’s keeping the Kiladi connection quiet; conversely, of course, Cho sig’Radia knows Theo’s father only as Kiladi and has no reason to suspect he’s Daav. And one who was a Senior Scout a few years ago might have progressed far enough to become Acting Scout Commander now — especially since the “Acting” suggests that the Department’s recent actions have resulted in some rapid movement in the line of succession.)

I’m pretty sure I got the significance of the Richard A. Davis Portmaster Aid Foundation first time, though.

I seem to recall there being something I wanted to say about the bit where L’il Orbit casts shade on Kiladi’s piloting skills, but the only thing that’s coming to mind now is that it was never Kiladi, in the old days, who was called “schoolteacher”. And that there’s a bit of an irony in Daav yos’Phelium being named as a reliable pilot considering what happened the last time he was seen piloting a spaceship.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 42

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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…

Carpe Diem – Chapter 31

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Liad

In which Shadia Ne’Zame has the garbage run.

First-In Scout Shadia Ne’Zame is a new character, though we’ve met at least one member of her family before. Clonak ter’Meulen is an old character whom I’m very pleased to be re-acquainted with. (At least, he is in chronological order. I believe this is his first published appearance, though Val Con mentioned him a few chapters ago.)

This is a difficult chapter to say anything about, partly because it’s so short and partly because the things I do want to say — regarding Auxiliary Headquarters and the fact that the garbage run, these days, is not so boring as Scout Ne’Zame believes — come from remembering things from earlier readings that we haven’t got up to yet in this re-read.

I do wonder how Shadia and Clonak came to be such close friends as their banter suggests. It’s made clear that they’re quite different in age, so it’s unlikely that they were anything so obvious as classmates at the Academy.

Saltation – Chapter 23

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Erkes Dormitory, Suite 302
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo receives the key to her future.

This is one of those chapters that’s difficult to talk about because I’m not sure how much of what I think of it right now comes from what I know about future chapters from the first time I read the novel. I think it is at least safe, given what’s already come up on this re-read, to suggest that when it comes to old tech it might not be just Theo’s imagination that the pendant Win Ton sent her is responsive to her emotions, nor even that it actually has a personality.

The closing remark of Win Ton’s letter, about hoping to share a breakfast with Theo, follows naturally from what he’d been saying earlier in his letter about the breakfasts he’s been having lately, but it does make me wonder if she ever told him about her first conversation at the Culture Club.

Saltation – Chapter 22

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Erkes Dormitory, Suite 302
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo receives a letter from Win Ton.

The pace is picking up; the novel is concerning itself less with the day-to-day of Theo’s life and more with the scattered highlights. Weeks passed between chapters 20 and 21; months have passed between chapters 21 and 22. If Win Ton’s contract ran for the usual duration, it’s already a year since the end of chapter 19, and more time has passed between the last few chapters than in all the chapters before.

It’s interesting, knowing where Theo’s story is going, that her course of study is described here as resembling a tradeship course.

I don’t know if Win Ton’s report on the reputation of Brine Batzer means that we haven’t heard the last of him, but I’m gratified that it matches my impression of him.