Tag Archives: Skel

Ghost Ship – Chapter 36

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Emerald Casino
Surebleak Port
Surebleak

In which Theo lifts.

One wonders what the Uncle knows about Clarence O’Berin, and whether his approval is a good or a bad sign.

The Uncle’s appearance has changed a bit since Theo saw him last. One change that’s pointed out is that his beard has grown (when she first met him, he had only “a sketch of a beard”); in addition to that, the earring he’s now wearing is interesting because last time it was mentioned that he didn’t have an earring but had a tendency to fiddle with the side of his head as if he was used to have one and was missing it. Given the rumours about the Uncle, one might wonder if Theo had caught him when he’d recently had to shift to a new body — and if so, what he’d been up to that cost him the old one.

He’s also packing away the wine in a hurry, but who can say if that’s significant?

Misfits

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In which Ichliad Brunner’s family finds him embarrassing.

At no point in the story does anybody get around to correcting Tech Brunner’s mistaken impression of who Miri is and what she’s doing; on the contrary, it’s apparently confirmed when she shows up again speaking Liaden like a native. This is amusing for those of us who have read the novels and know Miri’s story, but I wonder how it would look to a reader who hadn’t and didn’t. Would the lack of any explanation of Miri’s behaviour appear as a gap in the story, like the lack of any explanation of what Korval’s up to?

(I also see that Skel’s fate is not mentioned, but I think in that case a reader familiar with the shapes stories take can probably figure it out.)

Neither of the dates at the beginning and end matches up neatly with the dates given in I Dare. The date given for the attack on Solcintra at the beginning is the day after the date given in the novel (though I suppose the attack might have lasted long enough to carry over into a new date, according to the Standard Calendar, and the novel neglected to mention it in the excitement). The final scene, which clearly takes place after Korval is ordered off Liad and decides to migrate to Surebleak, is given a date two whole days before the date on which those things occur in the novel.

(And now it probably sounds like I don’t like this story. I do, really, I’m just not finding words to talk much about the things I like.)

Tomorrow: We return to Theo Waitley – and, at last, to sensible chapter numbers – with Saltation chapter 33.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 70

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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.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 69

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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.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 68

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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.)

Carpe Diem – Chapter 41

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Fornem’s Gap

In which Miri launches and Val Con dances.

In Miri’s scene, we get a bit more detail about the last days of Klamath. This is the first time she’s mentioned Skel.

In Val Con’s scene, there’s a glimpse of one of the reasons the Clutch have such long names. Each part of the name identifies an aspect of the self; together, they serve as a reminder of who one is.

It’s interesting that the aspect of Val Con’s self connected to his newest name has nothing to do with the actual words which make up the name. The name “Tough Guy” isn’t about him being a tough guy; it’s a marker for the change in Val Con’s life and self that came about as a consequence of meeting Miri, the person who bestowed the name. And in that respect, it’s like the stick-knife which Val Con bestowed on Miri; though Edger and his brothers may have been mistaken about the spirit of the specific gesture, seeing in it a significance not intended by the giver, they were basically correct that underneath it something significant was taking place.