Spiral Dance
The Little Empty
In which Jela gives Cantra a lesson in gunnery.
And Cantra learns that Jela is capable of unnerving her, though she’s careful not to let him know it.
There are some nasty surprises lurking in Dancer‘s armory, and in the accompanying documentation. Garen and Cantra doubtless have had their share of enemies, but it must be one out of the ordinary who could do something like this, and who would if they could.
On Port
Scohecan
In which the name of Commander Ro Gayda is mentioned again, and we get some idea what Jela’s been up to since we heard it last.
And so we finally get to see what Jela’s mission is, when he’s not being sidetracked. He’s “assessing local unit response readiness”, as the Commander put it, not only in the case of the Enemy attacking but in the case of the High Command deciding to throw the Outer galaxy to the wolves. Which is apparently something they’re planning to do, for whatever good it’ll do them. And the “consolidated commanders”, of whom Jela’s Commander is one, intend to keep the fight going, despite High Command if necessary. All of which means that the secrecy surrounding Jela’s mission is not just directed at the Enemy, it’s also directed at a not-insignificant whack of people who are officially on Jela’s own side.
Meantime, Jela is also asking seemingly-casual questions about left-over tech from the old war. He gives the impression that this is just a side project of his own, out of general (or Generalist) interest, but the narration helpfully points out that he’s giving this impression in a way that makes me suspect that this, too, is part of his mission. Wheels within wheels.
I’ve got an odd feeling that the old tech he asks about is not actually the old tech he’s looking for, if that makes sense. (The danger of asking about a thing directly, of course, is that then people know you’re looking for it.) But I don’t consciously remember where this is going, so I don’t know if this is just a feeling or if there’s anything to it.
I’m also feeling a mite distrustful about the learning toys Cantra picks up, but again I don’t remember whether there’s anything to it.
Before she gets to the learning toys, a bit more of Cantra’s past is filled in. We find out what happened to Garen — as far as Cantra knows. (This, I do remember what comes of it.)
Spiral Dance
Ardega
In which the Enemy makes an example.
More about the aelantaza, and about Dulsey’s background, and Cantra’s. That’s an interesting insight about why Cantra’s so cantankerous.
Cantra’s been thinking to herself lately that it’s not safe to find Jela as attractive as she does, and now it appears that Jela has been thinking to himself similar things about Cantra. It’s pretty clear where that’s headed, even if I didn’t already know.
On port
Barbit
In which Jela and Cantra go for a quiet drink.
This is one of my favourite chapters in the Crystal Duology. Possibly it’s because it’s a very Korval sort of scene in a duology that mostly sets a different tone than the Korval novels. I could see Val Con and Miri, for instance, getting into a situation similar to this one.
Though I realised on this re-read that it’s not just the Korval novels it reminds me of:
As Lobsang followed the ambling Lu-Tze he heard the dojo master, who like all teachers never missed an opportunity to drive home a lesson, say: ‘Dojo! What is Rule One?’
Even the cowering challenger mumbled along to the chorus:
‘Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men!’
Spiral Dancer
In Transit
In which a course is charted.
I think this is the first time Cantra’s surname has been mentioned. Jela has doubts about its authenticity, seeing as “Phelium” bore an interesting similarity to the Rim-cant word for “pilot”. And “yos'” was the Inworld’s prefix for denoting a courier or delivery person, which is interesting, and since I first read this book I’ve occasionally idled time away trying to guess what other Liaden prefixes might have denoted in the Inworlds. dea’ might have signified a person who minds the business of another, given the examples of dea’Gauss, whose family business is handling the financial and legal affairs of other families, and dea’Judan, whose family business is storekeeping (but not owning the stores they keep). And I have a feeling, without having done a deliberate survey, that pel’ has a tendency to appear in the names of butlers and other such domestic servants.
We also get our first mention of the Uncle, and straight out of the gate the doubt about whether he’s (a) still around and (b) still the same man who used to be the Uncle in the old days, which is going to become something of a recurring motif.
Spiral Dance
Taliofi
In which several people are not what they appear to be.
There are, of course, no Liadens in this setting, but there are people who possess attributes that will come to be considered Liaden. A few chapters ago, it was mentioned in passing that a golden-tan skin tone is a high class marker, and here we learn likewise about the very Liaden-like manners of a person with that skin tone. The word used is “Inside”, which I suspect refers to the inner reaches of the galaxy, placing high society socially and geographically at the opposite pole from the Rim.
And Rint dea’Sord, the first person we’ve yet encountered who combines a Liaden-like skin tone with Liaden-like manners and a Liaden-like name, is a fraud. The skin tone is make-up, the manners are self-taught and wouldn’t stand up in the actual Inside, his pretty Inside accent disappears in emotional extremity, and all things considered I wouldn’t lay money on the name being authentic either. He’s putting on high-society manners for the advantage it gives him against his fellow low-lifes.
Meanwhile Cantra, it seems, is doing the inverse. She was brought up with high-class manners, which she doesn’t use, preferring to present herself as a Rimmer like Garen. In retrospect, there were several moments foreshadowing this, including the moment a few chapters ago where Dulsey bows to her and she almost replies with the corresponding bow instead of a Rimmer’s nod, and the way her reminisces of Garen have always mentioned Rimmers in a way that leaves it ambiguous about whether she counts herself as one. And the fact that she was the subject of the previous mention of golden-tan skin tone as a high class marker.
Also, she’s an aelantaza — whatever that is, the few details we’ve got so far sound worrying — and her “first aid kit” is, judging by Jela’s reaction, sheriekas tech.
Spiral Dance
Transition
In which Cantra exercises due caution.
Here is another point of distinction between this setting and the setting of the later Liaden novels: the transition from Faldaiza nearspace to Taliofi nearspace takes twelve seconds. Interstellar journeys in the later novels are more likely to take hours, if not days.
(Or am I comparing the wrong things? Most of the journeys that come to mind at the moment involve Dutiful Passage, which is a full-size trade vessel; Spiral Dance is a much smaller ship, and maybe that is the only significance difference. Something to keep an eye on going forward, anyway.)
On the ground
Faldaiza Port
In which somebody is taking an interest in Jela and Cantra.
I’m not sure I have anything particular to say about this chapter. Stuff happens, but I don’t want to just recount what happened without adding anything of my own.
I did like the detail that the bar is as successful as it is in part due to suggestions from Jela. A generalist is a useful person to have around.
On board Spiral Dance
Faldaiza Port
In which Cantra yos’Phelium goes for a meal and some company, and gets more than she expected.
Enter a new point-of-view character: Cantra yos’Phelium, independent cargo pilot running solo.
With the new point of view, we get an outside description of Jela. He has eyes as black as the space between the stars, and, yes, brown skin. He’s shorter than the breadth of his shoulders would suggest — and shorter than Cantra, though that’s not so indicative since her height is “not inconsiderable”.
We learn about Cantra’s height from her own point of view, as well as the fact that she’s not as young as she was. From Jela’s point of view, we learn that Cantra has green eyes.
Quite a bit of backstory threaded through this chapter: about Batchers; about world-eaters; about the Rim, its people in general and Cantra and Garen in particular. Also about the navigation beacons, which caught my attention when first I read this, because they don’t have (or apparently need) those in later novels. Other things they don’t have in later novels include the smart clothing on display here, that can scan rooms for danger, send messages, display images in the air.
And another thing that caught my attention the first time, as someone who’d only read the later novels, is the mention and description of Solcintra, that fabled origin planet, which apparently is rather less illustrious in its own time than it appears through the filter of nostalgia.