In which Therny Chirs comes to Eylot.
I think I made the right call, for me, to leave this story until after the novel, even though it doesn’t directly relate to the plot. If I had read the story first, I’d have spent most of the novel trying to figure out how it connected, which would have been distracting.
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Bechimo
In which Bechimo delivers its cargo and passenger.
So, after all the griping about how long it seemed to be taking to get to the climax of the novel, was I satisfied with it when it arrived?
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Minot Station
Transient Crew Cabins
In which Clarence pays the bills.
It occurs to me that Veep Semimodo has not actually met Ambassador Hevelin yet. If he had, he might, rightly or wrongly, react differently to the prospect of incurring the Ambassador’s displeasure.
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Minot Station
Administrative Offices
In which Clarence and Kara go shopping.
I’m beginning to get the impression that, on top of whatever else might be happening on Minot, the culture might be just a wee bit sexist.
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Minot Station
In which Bechimo‘s exec and chief technician are in conference.
I agree with Kara that there’s something here not quite adding up, but I’m not sure yet what it is.
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Bechimo
Crew Lockers
In which news is received of absent friends.
There I go again: the question I asked last entry is immediately answered, and not in the way I expected.
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Bechimo
Sync Shift
In which some things are opened that had been carefully sealed.
I don’t think I said this when it came up earlier: I like that Theo’s friends don’t all like each other just because all they like Theo. And that, on the other hand, it’s not held against them that they don’t; that’s just the way it goes, sometimes.
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Bechimo
Minot Station
In which Win Ton considers the future.
I wonder at the passing mention of “a local intrigue having to do with a weather prediction”. Again, it might be just a detail thrown in to add richness to the scene, but I find that I wouldn’t mind learning what that was about.
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Bechimo
Aubernet System
In which Bechimo arrives in a new place.
Lots of technical details in this chapter, which is impresive but not the kind of thing I personally find most entertaining to read or talk about.
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Bechimo
Among the Sweet Growing Things
In which a situation develops in the hydroponics bay.
I like the description of Kara tending to the plants: three paragraphs on the value of talking to plants, with, as an afterthought, one sentence acknowledging a possible more hard-headed take on the subject.
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