Jelaza Kazone
Tree Court
In which Miri has had a long rest.
I wonder about the yellow, orange and red flowers with the peppery smell. The description reminds me of the nasturtium flowers my mother used to grow and use the edible parts in salads. As I recall, they had a peppery taste, but I don’t remember what their smell was like.
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The Way Between
In which Miri and Val Con are not going to die here.
I’m not hanging around to think of something to say. I want to know what happens next.
Surebleak Port
Office of the Road Boss
In which Miri’s day suddenly gets more interesting.
So, Pat Rin did send the alert to both Val Con and Miri, regardless, which makes perfect sense and is what I would have assumed in the first place if the narrative hadn’t implied otherwise.
It annoys me that this is what I’m thinking about when there’s a dramatic climax going on.
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Vandar
Kosmorn Gore
In which Miri remembers Klamath.
Miri’s story, and her expectation that it will turn Val Con against her, is one of those things that I have feelings about but not many words. I’m more comfortable talking about incidental things, like Miri mentioning in passing that very few people succeed in entirely kicking a Cloud habit, which makes the Department’s assumptions about her seem like a bit less of an unprofessional reach.
Vandar
Winterfair
In which Hakan sees a thing that he cannot have seen.
The first published description of an autodoc in action, and one of the more detailed explanations of what it is an autodoc actually does.
The autodoc’s analysis indicates that Miri caught a bit of the MemStim that felled sig’Alda, which presumably explains why she’s been reliving Klamath all the way to the ship. (Not that it needs a memory drug for a gravely injured person to be reliving a past trauma, but it might otherwise have been a bit of coincidence that she was reliving precisely that one.)
It probably says something about sig’Alda that he didn’t bother to hide the footprint trail from his ship. Even given an out-of-the-way location, it might have been better tradecraft to make it less easy for someone to stumble across if they happened to be passing. I have a nasty suspicion that he didn’t bother because he figured any local who found the ship would be done in by the security system, and as far as he was concerned that was a satisfactory state of affairs.
Vandar
Winterfair
In which Val Con meets Tyl Von sig’Alda, Clan Rugare.
Given that it’s been suggested that Cloud targets the user’s most traumatic memories, it’s interesting that its effect on Tyl Von sig’Alda seems to have been to make him forget basically everything about being an Agent of Change.
(Also interesting: that although he is confused when Val Con mentions his ship, he doesn’t hesitate when Val Con asks for his first aid kit. Presumably carrying one of those is a basic pilot thing that he was doing even before he fell into the hands of the Department.)
sig’Alda’s recollection of his occupation suggests he’s not a former Scout, unless he left the Scouts for some reason to become a pilot-for-hire. I was going to say that it seems unlikely a Scout would choose such a course, but then I remembered that we know of a Scout who did very nearly that, and choice didn’t come into it: Val Con’s own father was called home from the Scouts to serve the necessity of his Clan, and later became a courier pilot at least partly because it was the closest he could get, while still serving the necessity of his Clan, to being a Scout again. And it could also happen more directly, that a Scout might be called home to serve the Clan’s necessity by being a pilot-for-hire, if the Clan’s necessity were that all its children be supporting it with paid occupations. (I think I’ve just argued myself out of believing that we’ve learned anything definite about whether sig’Alda was a Scout.)
Liad
In which Tyl Von sig’Alda gets his orders.
After the earlier chapters about Tyl Von sig’Alda being set explicitly in Envolima City, it’s worth noting that this chapter declines to be specific about where on Liad the control center of the Department is located. Except that it’s underground.
And that it is intended to “one day be the command post for a galaxy”, which doesn’t help locate it physically, but does a great deal to reveal the Department’s intentions. They’re not only interested in limited actions for the preservation of Liad; they’re out for conquest. All according to The Plan. (It’s always a bad sign when an organization is dedicated to something called “The Plan”, don’t you find?)
The other thing this chapter doesn’t say, in the midst of all this preparation for sending sig’Alda after Val Con, is how they know where to send him. Did his analysis of Val Con’s options produce that precise a result? Or maybe they don’t actually know yet, and are just putting the wheels in motion so that he’ll be ready to go at a moment’s notice when they do know where he’s going.
Liad
Envolima City
In which Tyl Von sig’Alda comes to a satisfactory conclusion.
There’s a notable omission from Tyl Von sig’Alda’s analysis of Val Con and Miri’s motives for joining forces: no mention of Miri’s trouble with the Juntavas which was, at least initially, the actual reason they stuck together.
One apparent possibility is that Agent sig’Alda doesn’t have knowledge of the Juntavas’ doings; they seem to be a Terran-only organisation, and they’re no doubt pretty short with strangers found sticking their nose into their business. But that doesn’t hold up; we’ve seen that the Department have ways of getting information they shouldn’t have access to, and in particular we’ve seen sig’Alda himself obtain information on this subject from a Juntava. It’s highly unlikely that Jefferson spent all that time talking about how they captured and stranded Miri and Val Con without ever mentioning why.
So the explanation seems to be that sig’Alda does have access to the information about the Juntavas’ interest in Miri, but has dismissed it as an insignificant Terran squabble irrelevant to the doings of Liadens.
(The other reason Val Con and Miri stuck together seems to be so far off sig’Alda’s radar as to not even occur to him as a possibility. Which is perhaps a bit shortsighted, given that there’s the example of Val Con’s uncle and aunt to show that it is possible that such a thing might befall one of Korval. But then, short-sightedness has ever been one of the characteristics of bigotry.)
I wonder how much of sig’Alda’s disdain for Terrans is original to him, and how much is a result of his Department training.
Liad
Envolima City
In which Tyl Von sig’Alda seeks that which is lost.
The tour of the plot strands continues.
This is the only time I can recall Envolima City being mentioned. Most things that happen on Liad happen either in Solcintra or Chonselta.
The description of Korval as pursuing its own interests to the incidental benefit of Liad makes an interesting contrast to the Department of the Interior, which as will become apparent considers itself as working for the good of Liad but when it comes down to it defines “the good of Liad” as that which is good for the Department.