Tag Archives: Vimdiac

Carpe Diem – Chapter 48

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Nev’lorn Headquarters

In which Shadia is all joy to see Clonak.

I’ve been puzzling over the sequence of events leading up to this, because the main thing I remembered about Nev’lorn from earlier readings of this chapter was the Department trying to get hold of Shadia, which had left me with the impression that the Department had somehow decided to siphon her off to Nev’lorn and recruit her even before she crossed Val Con’s trail. I think I’ve got it straight now, though: Her transfer to Nev’lorn was authentic Scout business, possibly due to Clonak wanting to keep her away from the Department or perhaps to recruit her in the Scouts’ resistance against it, and it was only after she filed her report from Vandar that the Department decided to take an interest in her.

(Another trick my memory played on me was that I remembered Shadia’s reunion with Clonak playing out in a corridor. I suppose I must have been confusing it with Val Con’s account of how the Department got hold of him.)

According to a series of blog posts Sharon Lee did back in 2009 about the authors’ collaboration process, the closest they ever got to a major deadlock was on the question of whether Shadia and Clonak survived the end of this chapter. (Neither of them actually wanted Shadia and Clonak to die, but one of them was convinced it was the inevitable consequence of events up to this point.) The blog posts, which all make fascinating reading, are here: Part 0, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. The story about this chapter is in the last part (but do be aware, if you’re in a position where it matters, that it does give away what decision they eventually reached).

Carpe Diem – Chapter 42

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The Garbage Run

In which Shadia Ne’Zame’s garbage run is enlivened with a mystery.

Several circumstances converged to produce this event. If the Bassilan rebels had not attacked and inspired the militia to go searching the hills, the yacht would still be resting on the ground, and there would have been nothing in orbit to tell Shadia that anything interesting had occurred.

I wonder if Val Con has thought about the possibility of the yacht being spotted by a Scout patrol. I don’t get the impression he has, though as a Scout he presumably knows the patrols exist; perhaps he’s had his mind on more immediate concerns. Or perhaps he’s thought about it, but realised that even if a Scout did find the yacht, they would do as Shadia did here, and he and Miri would be no closer to rescue. He might have done something about that, if the relaunching of the yacht hadn’t been so hurried; perhaps he could have left a message in the yacht before sending it up, explaining the situation. But then, the situation being what it is, he could well have been reluctant to send a message out into the universe without being sure who would find it or what response it would have.

For that matter, the situation being what it is, it’s not yet clear what response Shadia’s report back to base will have…