Dutiful Passage
In which Padi makes connections and Shan receives news from home.
The looper families Shan mentions are among those who have appeared or been mentioned in the Jethri-era stories: the Smiths were the first family to have norbears travelling with them, the Tragers were friendly with Jethri’s family, and the Wildes did that ill-fated bit of experimenting with Old Tech.
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Jelaza Kazone
In which Korval catches up on the morning news.
There seems to me to be a lot of book left for where we’re at.
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Bechimo
In which Bechimo is free to fly.
As I said at least once before, way back near the beginning of this project, it’s always something when fictional characters have philosophical discussions about whether their life is proceeding according to some pre-ordained plan.
It wouldn’t be at all true to say that Bechimo‘s visit to Surebleak accomplished nothing, of course, but I notice that they’re leaving with the Pathfinders they were planning to drop off, and the cat they were planning to drop off, and the tree they were planning to drop off, and even the ship they were planning to drop off…
Bechimo
In which the Assembled have come to consensus.
I appreciate Kara making the effort to be polite and not ruin the moment by laughing at everyone.
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Bechimo
In which there is a free and frank exchange of views.
In all the excitement, I don’t think anyone got around to reading the emergency pinbeam message. It should be okay, though; most likely it was just a heads-up about the thing that happens at the end of the chapter, which went okay anyhow.
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Bechimo
In which the Pathfinders discuss progress.
The cats are making themselves at home. I wonder if they intend to become members of the crew as well.
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Bechimo
In which the Pathfinders join the conversation.
Chernak and Stost are welcomed back with some of Clarence’s baking — more maize buttons?
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Bechimo
In which it’s time to call in the professionals.
I’m amused by the bit where Theo compares the current gathering to a faculty meeting.
If Bechimo does decide to pursue, as a long-term project, the question of how many devices from the old universe are still wandering around in the new, that might provide a reason beyond personal preference for the two Pathfinders to rejoin the crew.
Five Light-Hours out from Surebleak Libration Point Five
In which some spacefaring devices have things to say.
And now we know where the Department of the Interior sent its fleet of Old Tech war machines, though I think we’d all been assuming the answer anyway.
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Surebleak Orbital Influence Zone
Northern L5 Limits
In which Bechimo makes an unusual discovery.
Libration points, or Lagrangian points, are points in a system involving two large orbiting objects, such as a planet and its sun, where the balance of forces means a smaller orbiting object may maintain its position relative to the two larger objects. There are five such points in any given system; the first three tend to be unstable, meaning an object in one of those orbits will drift out of it over time, but the last two are stable when the mass ratio between the two larger objects is greater than a particular size, and it’s not uncommon to find smaller objects orbiting in a planet’s L4 and L5 points. For instance, the regions surrounding Jupiter’s L4 and L5 points are both home to sizeable clusters of asteroids orbiting in sync with the planet.
I don’t believe we’ve encountered Remco before, but we have of course heard the name of Carresens in several different contexts. One of which is that the Carresens family operates a shipyard at Margate, which among other things produced the Free Ship Disian.