Jelaza Kazone
In which Delm Korval meets Emissary Twelve.
Way back when Edger was first introduced, there was a brief mention of the Ambassadorial Clans of the Clutch, whose members are shorter and svelter and speedier than the working clans such as Edger belongs to. It would appear that Emissary Twelve is an example.
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Shaltren
Cessilee
In which Edger and Sheather meet the Chairman of the Juntavas.
Here’s one indication that Trogar is lying to Edger: he says that Hostro has reported nothing about what happened on Lufkit, beyond the bare fact that he had Miri and then he didn’t — but he knows, without either of the Turtles mentioning it, about Costello threatening Watcher. (Or perhaps they did mention it, before the scene started, when they were explaining how they came to be standing in his office. What do you think?)
That’s an interesting bit of symbolism, the way Edger’s demonstration reduces most of the Juntavas-controlled worlds on the map to rubble — and the more so for the fact that it was just an incidental effect of Edger’s main intention.
Liad
Trealla Fantrol
In which Val Con’s siblings receive news of his doings.
The mention of “children, cats, and dogs” as potential hazards to navigation is, I think, the first mention of there being dogs in Korval’s Valley, or indeed on Liad. In fact, I’m not sure it isn’t the only mention of dogs at all in the series (outside of Necessity’s Child, which has a major character with a dog). Characters in the Liaden Universe are much more likely to be cat people, like their creators.
Speaking of children, we get a run-down of the youngest generation of yos’Galans: Shan’s daughter Padi has been mentioned before, as has his foster-son Gordy (who would be about 18 Standards old now), but this is the first mention of Nova’s son Syl Vor and of Anthora’s twins, Shindi and Mik. Unsurprisingly, in the latter case, since they’re “brand new” — which is a reminder that just as Val Con’s relatives are unaware of what he’s been up to lately, so is he unaware of their latest news.
In which the Juntavas let Miri and Val Con go.
A nicely unobtrusive example of virtue being its own reward: if Miri hadn’t thought about notifying the dead stranger’s family, she wouldn’t have found the coord page before it was spaced, and they’d have been in a heap of trouble.
Well. Not that they’re not in a heap of trouble as it is, with an Yxtrang ship bearing down on them, but you know what I mean.
In which the Juntavas catch up with Miri.
There’s something tricksy going on with the timing in this chapter: the scene with Hostro and Edger is clearly Edger returning after one hour to hear Hostro’s decision, as promised two chapters ago — even though several days have passed for Miri and Val Con in those two chapters. Clearly there’s been a bit of stretch-and-squash going on in the relative placement of the scenes that don’t involve Miri and Val Con.
I wonder if it’s just a coincidence that the period of time Terrans and the Clutch have been dealing together is roughly the same as Edger’s age.
Up to now, when considering Miri and Val Con’s potential (and now newly formalized) partnership, the emphasis has mainly been on Miri’s preference for playing single’s odds and consequently not being sure what she’d do with a partner — but it should be noted that Val Con, whatever he might have done when he was a Scout, has spent the last few years playing his own version of single’s odds, and his response to the ship being boarded suggests that he could do with brushing up on the finer points of having a partner himself. Trying to take sole responsibility for one’s partner’s safety is not how it’s supposed to work, even when it doesn’t result in the two of you being separated and then individually pinned down and captured.
In which a Turtle on urgent business is no trifling thing.
Edger demonstrates that, while the Clutch are not inclined to rush into anything, they’re capable of acting rapidly and decisively when the situation calls for it. And that, if they’re slow to come to a conclusion, that just means that they’ve given it a lot of thought, not that they’re stupid.
Every time we get a mention of Val Con’s minor telekinetic ability, I go back and check the chapter near the end of Mouse and Dragon, and every time the chapter stubbornly continues to be about young Pat Rin being discovered to possess a minor telekinetic ability. I don’t see how that could be the result of a confusion, so I suppose we must take it that they both possess a minor telekinetic ability. I still wonder what happened to Pat Rin’s.
I don’t believe a word of the stuff about electron substitution as a basis for Val Con’s enhanced psychic abilities, by the way, but it’s part of a grand tradition in space opera of using post-Newtonian physics as a handwave for all kinds of entertaining nonsense and I’m prepared to run with it. (Since I’ve raised the subject, though, I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend the essay on What Quantum Physics Is Not from Chad Orzel’s book How to Explain Physics to Your Dog, which is educational, clearly written, and features an evil mirror-universe squirrel with a goatee.)
In which several people are given things to think on.
Miri and Val Con are clear of Lufkit, but they’re not clear of trouble yet. Justin Hostro is sending people after them —
— I find myself wondering how he was able to discover their destination, when so far the name of Volmer has been spoken only in the hearing of Turtles. Perhaps Watcher mentioned it while he was in Xavier Ing’s custody, though that seems unlikely; a more plausible possibility is that the process of setting the ship for the journey included filing a destination with local traffic control —
— and near the end of the chapter we’re introduced to a new group of people, who act as a reminder that there are other dangers in the wide universe, which Miri and Val Con might now be heading toward.
In which Miri and Val Con discuss weapons.
At first it seemed like a quick turnaround that, less than a day after Miri tried to ditch the madman, it’s her reassuring him that he’s not a danger to her. But there was that demonstration, after she tried to ditch him, of how much importance he places on her survival, and even before that it wasn’t really what she was concerned about. Even when she admitted to being afraid, she made the point that it wasn’t Val Con himself she was afraid of. And I think, on reflection, that when she was bothered by his first demonstration of the Loop’s capabilities, what bothered her wasn’t just the apparent calmness with which he was able to discuss her death, but the calmness with which he was able to discuss his own.
On an entirely different note, I find myself wondering whether Professor Thos. Swift, author of the Young Person’s Book of Space Drives, was a member of the same faculty as the originator of the Antonio Smith Method.
In which Miri and Val Con discover the fruits of the ship’s labors.
Among the things I keep thinking about, re-reading this novel, are the fact that it was the first to be written and published and the consequence that there are things in it which read differently with knowledge of the rest of the series.
For a small example, there’s the “obscure sense” that tells Miri without looking that Val Con has returned, which one might connect with Aelliana’s ability to tell without looking when Daav entered the room, and what that developed into.
Possibly a more significant example is Val Con’s explanation of the roles of First and Second Speaker, which — though it does clarify some of the questions we had about the succession back around “A Day at the Races” — completely fails to mention that there are such things as delms, or who might fill that role for Korval.
In which He Who Watches has an unpleasant day.
This chapter shows very clearly how much Val Con has come to care for Miri, even in the short time they’ve known each other. It also gives some indication how much she’s come to care for him, although she’s more reluctant to bring it out where people can see it, or to trust it (and who can blame her?).
Edger’s relation to Watcher, we learn, is that he is the brother of his mother’s sister. Which tells us something about the Clutch’s kinship system, because that’s a degree more specificity than would be necessary or meaningful among humans.