Dragonsdawn - Chapter Eight
Mar. 13th, 2023 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, our origin story got a little more dangerous as our colonists experienced their very first threadfall. Yikes!
The chapter starts interestingly by telling us that the two psychologists had flown in late that evening to help deal with the traumas. And there is a lot of trauma. Cherry Duff, we're told, had suffered a stroke but is recovering. Joel and his apparently nameless wife are "prostrated" by the loss of their sons. Eek. I'd bet. Bernard Hagelman is burying his own grief to help his wife and other families.
Sean and Sorka have been busy, sledding in wounded. Apparently Sean's father, Porrig, had sent his wife and daughter to the other survivors for emotional support, while he stays with the rest of his family in his cave. Sean's bitter reaction is interesting...
“The first time Porrig Connell ever did anything for anyone else,” his son remarked under his breath to Sorka, who berated him for such cynicism. “He wants to use Cricket to service the rest of his mares when they foal. He expects me to give up my stallion because he hadn’t trained his!”
Sorka wisely said nothing.
It sounds like Sean's dad explains a lot of why Sean is the way he is.
Oh, of course. Of course. McCaffrey is McCaffrey:
With one exception, the distant holdings had contacted Landing, offering either assistance or sympathy. The one exception was the Big Island mining camp, comprised of Avril Bitra, Stev Kimmer, Nabhi Nabol, and a few others. Ongola, running over the log, noticed their absence.
Of fucking course. Because god forbid our asshole villains show a moment of empathy toward their fellow settlers. McCaffrey never met a nuance or layer that she didn't want to beat flat with a stick.
KENJO though, we're supposed to like him (despite the fuel theft), so HE comes in from his distant Honshu plateau and heads the aerial survey - providing maps and pics of the newly named "Threadfall". Of fucking course.
The biologists are examining samples. They've got a lot. People are pretty freaked out. And to be honest, I can't blame them:
By the time the pulsing life-form reached Landing, it coiled, a gross meter long and perhaps ten centimeters in circumference, resembling a heavy hawser. Double-thick slabs of transparent silicon-based building plastic, tightly banded with metal strips, were rigged into a cage, its base quikplased to the floor. Several thin slits with locking flaps were created. A hole the size of the barrel opening was incised in the top, the barrel lid readied, and with the help of grimly anxious volunteers the terrible creature was transferred from barrel to cage. The top opening was sealed as soon as the life-form was dropped into the plastic cube.
One of the men scrambled for a corner to be sick in. Others averted their faces. Only Tarvi and Mar Dook seemed unmoved by the creature’s writhing as it engulfed the food that had been placed in the cube.
In its urgency to ingest, the thing rippled in waves of gray, greasy colors: sickly greens, dull pink tones, and an occasional streak of yellow flowed across its surface, the image sickeningly distorted by the thick clear plastic. The outer covering of the beast seemed to thicken. The thick shell probably formed at its demise, the observers guessed, for such remains had been found in rocky places where the organism had starved. The interior of the beast evidently deteriorated as rapidly as it had initially expanded. Was it really alive? Or was it some malevolent chemical entity feeding on life? Certainly its appetite was voracious, although the very act of eating seemed to interfere with whatever physical organization the beast had, as if what it consumed hastened its destruction.
Ew.
Bay is the one who actually wonders where it came from, suggesting Outer Space. This is, weirdly enough, an "astonishing query", but god knows why. If it doesn't resemble life on Pern, why not guess extra-Pernese origins? They start wondering about the comets or the "eccentric body", and if it's brought in from the Oort cloud.
Tillek is the one who ends up theorizing the answer, having noticed the "red morning star" getting brighter these past weeks. They make preparations to observe what the thread eats and how it dies.
Oh hey, here's another character we're supposed to hate, apparently:
By lunch time, a meal was served from the old communal kitchens, and rumor was rife. By midafternoon, Ted Tubberman and a fellow malcontent, their faces streaked and drawn by grief, led bereaved relatives to the door of the containment unit.
Everyone's shocked and horrified, but Ted Tubberman is a "malcontent" apparently. Immediately we're told that Mar Dook, one of the theorizing scientists, resents Tubberman's manner ("but respecting his grief" - are you?). But see, the problem is, Ted is daring to express unhappiness with being on a fucking death world:
“That explains very little, Mar,’’ Ted replied, belligerently sticking out his chin. “In all my years as a botanist, I never saw a plant symbiont dangerous to humans. What do we get next? A death moss?”
Emily reached out to touch Tubberman’s arm in sympathy, but he jerked away.
Maybe it's just me, but I think Ted's got a fair fucking question. They've suddenly, eight years in, discovered a fucking terrifying biohazard. They've seen signs now that this is not a one-time occurrence. Why is unreasonable for him to be angry? Or wonder about other hazards that they don't know about?
And indeed:
“It’s still alive? You’re keeping it alive!” Ted was livid with irrational outrage. Beside him, his companions nodded agreement as fresh tears streamed down their faces. Murmuring angrily among themselves, the delegation crowded closer to the entrance, every one of them seeking an outlet for frustration and impotent grief.
"Irrational?" We were told two pages ago, that only Tarvi and Mar Dook could keep from turning away or being sick at the sight of this thing. But Ted specifically is "irrational".
I'm sorry, I know I'm a broken record here. I just have to rant about this trait of McCaffrey's. She's a good author overall. She created well-developed worlds, fascinating scenarios. She can create likable characters and has a remarkably efficient grasp of pacing and plot when she bothers to use it. But she seems to be utterly incapable of letting her audience make up their own minds about her characters.
I'm starting to wonder if it's some kind of writer-based trauma. Like she encountered some 1950s or 1960s equivalent of Reylo fandom, which focused so much on a complicated villain that she didn't dare ever allow her villains any complication or humanizing characteristic what so ever.
Bitra, until now, had done NOTHING objectively wrong. She had an idea of where to stake a claim, based on information everyone apparently knew. She wants to leave the planet, which is, apparently an evil goal. But hasn't done anything substantial to pursue that goal, that we know of. Not yet.
But McCaffrey spends every waking moment making sure that we know she's evil-evil-evil. She hates kids! And puppies! Don't worry guys! Everyone hates her. Why? Um...she slept with an older, more powerful dude. So she's terrible. Yeah!
Ted Tubberman isn't quite as mistreated, but still, immediately as he's introduced, he's mispronouncing his colleagues' names and being a general dick. He's unpleasant and unattractive. We're meant to dislike him in advance so that when he expresses unhappiness with how the current folks are running things, we're immediately against him. Just in case we're inclined to wonder if the guy who wants off the death planet has a point, we're told by every other character how much they resent him.
(I will give McCaffrey this: Ted Tubberman, if I recall my Pern wiki correctly, will be the person who develops the grubs. And the grubs are possibly the singularly most useful invention they've got. I'd argue that they're possibly as important as the dragons themselves. I bring this up because I am genuinely surprised that she's going to let a character that we are clearly supposed to dislike have a positive legacy of any kind. I suppose, we'll see how it happens in context.)
Tubberman does have a reason for his antagonism though, his daughter (mentioned last chapter) was devoured by Thread. So, I'll give McCaffrey that. It's baby steps, balanced out by the fact that we got paragraphs characterizing him as irrational, belligerent and unlikable first. McCaffrey doesn't seem to realize that this immediately makes Mar Dook seem kind of awful for resenting the manner in which the grieving father expresses his grief. It would be easy enough to have Mar Dook show a moment of empathy and regret. Instead:
“I’m a father first, and my daughter was . . . devoured by one of those creatures! So was Joe Milan, and Patsy Swann, Eric Hegelman, Bob Jorgensen, and . . .” Tubberman’s face was livid. His fists clenched at his sides, his whole body strained with rage and frustration. He glared accusingly at Emily and Paul. “We trusted you two. How could you bring us to a place that devours our children and all we’ve achieved the past eight years!” The murmurs of the delegation supported his accusation. “We” — his wide gesture took in the packed numbers behind him — “want that thing dead. You’ve had long enough to study it. C’mon, people. We know what we have to do!” With a final bitter, searing look at the biologists, he turned, roughly pushing aside those in his path. “Fire kills it!”
He stomped off, raging. His followers left with him.
“It won’t matter what they do, Paul,” Mar Dook said, restraining Paul Benden from going after Ted. “The beast is moribund now. Give them the corpse to vent their feelings on. We’ve about finished what examinations we can make anyhow.” He shrugged wearily. “For all the good it does us.”
Ted is grieving, but the grief isn't meant to humanize him. It's meant to be a trigger for his irrational resentment of the leadership that we're supposed to admire.
...it's funny, but in a weird way, Paul Benden reminds me of Brekke in Dragonquest. Because if I think about it, I'm not sure that McCaffrey has given me any reason to admire or like Paul Benden as a character. Brekke's personality, in Dragonquest, was defined solely by her antagonist. Paul makes a bit more of an impression as a person, but as a leader? We have Bitra trying to manipulate him and resenting losing her grip on him. We have Ted lashing out here.
(IS Paul a good leader though? He seems to be managing things okay, I guess. Except for the whole letting his friend siphon and hoard what should be communal resources, even while going "Gosh, I hope my ex-girlfriend never finds out and uses it. *insert shrug emoji here*. It's not like if we kept it in proper storage, it would be protected and watched and she'd never have the opportunity or anything....")
...
Wearily, Mar Dook scrubbed at his face, his sallow skin nearly gray as he slumped onto a table that was littered with tapes and slide containers. “We now know that it is carbon based, has complex, very large proteins which flick from state to state and produce movement, and others which attack and digest an incredible range of organic substances. It is almost as if the creature was designed specifically to be inimical to our kind of life.”
“I’m glad you kept that to yourself,” Emily said wryly, looking over her shoulder at the door swinging shut on a view of the angry group heading away.
Okay, one paragraph after very blatantly portraying Ted as an irrational grief-stricken mess, Mar Dook immediately basically admits he has a point. And Emily's reaction is to just be happy that he didn't say this around the grieving people. Because they're irrational, you know. And they're irrational because...they think that this creature is meant to kill us.
Paul is skeptical about this whole "designed to kill us" thing. Mar Dook notes that fellow scientist Phas has an even wilder suggestion: Phas thinks it could be a weapon to prepare for invasion.
One interesting thing I remember stumbling across is a theory that the Thread in the Pern novels is related to the ...villains? Doomsday world destroying type adversaries? In the Acorna series. Like the Thread could be the larval form of those creatures? I thought that was a pretty interesting thought.
It also reminds me a bit of Lavos in Chrono Trigger, though I doubt that's intentional. Pern obviously predates Chrono Trigger (though Acorna came out afterward.)
Pol, wisely, shuts down the idea of an invasion though. There's no sign of extra-Pernese life. (Though I'm curious about the way the aquatic life forms eat them.) We're told that every other planet in the sector is inimical to carbon-based life, so it probably has to come from this system. Does it? HUMANS don't come from this system. But okay.
Do they still have their ships? Can they SCAN the Red Star?
But anyway, the biologists are exhausted and traumatized themselves, so even though Phas fears that they've missed something obvious and important, they're not able to think about it now. And oh, here, some belated sympathy...
“No one thinks straight after forty hours on the trot,” Paul said clasping Phas by the shoulder to give him a reassuring shake. “Let’s look at your notes again when you’ve had some rest and something to eat, away from the stench in here. Jim, Emily, and I will wait and deal with Ted’s delegation. They’re overreacting.” He sighed. ‘’Not that I blame them. Sudden grief is always a shock. However, I personally would rather plan for the worst that can happen. As you’ve suggested several dire options, we won’t be surprised by anything that happens. And we should plan to reduce its effects on the settlements.”
Paul had a quiet word with one of the psychologists, whose opinion was that the thwarted tensions of the bereaved might be eased with what he termed “a ritual incineration.” So they stepped aside when Ted Tubberman and his adherents demanded the cube and destroyed it in a blazing fire. The resultant stench gagged many, which helped to speed the dispersal of the onlookers. Only Ted and a few others remained to watch the embers cool.
The psychologist shook his head slowly. “I think I’ll keep an eye on Ted Tubberman for a while,” he told Paul and Emily. “That was apparently not enough to assuage his grief.”
So I do like that Paul is showing empathy to the grieving people. And I appreciate that, unlike say Bitra, there is emphasis on Ted having some sympathetic aspects triggering his difficult personality. I do think there was a way to present this a little more even-handed, but I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
So we get more details on the recovery. Kenjo's discovered traces of earlier Threadfall on Ierne Island. (And there's a witness who remembers a rainstorm littered with motes, as opposed to Thread.) They discover more traces of destruction while scouting the northern continent. This unfortunately proves that this is a world wide instance. And even worse, the old survey pics also show what they now recognize as evidence of Thread, and it's widespread. The team, they realize, must have arrived, just after the event.
Hey, more irrational Ted behavior:
To assuage mounting fears and tension, Betty Musgrave-Blake and Bill Duff undertook to review the survey’s original botanical data. Ted Tubberman was the only trained botanist who had survived, but he spent his days tracking down every Thread shell and his evenings burning the piles. The psychologists continued to monitor his aberrant behavior.
...is it really aberrant? I mean, it makes sense to me. I feel like the psychologists in McCaffrey's universe aren't very competent.
OH! Okay! Look at this!
In an attempt to disprove Mar’s theory of purposeful design or Phas’s equally disturbing suggestion of invasion, Ezra Keroon spent that day on the link with the Yokohama’s mainframe. His calculations confirmed beyond question that the eccentric planet had an orbit of 250 years. But it only stayed in the inner system for a little while, the way Haley’s comet periodically visited Sol. It was too much to suppose there was no connection, and, after consulting Paul and Emily, Ezra programmed one of the Yokohama’s few remaining probes to circumnavigate the planet and discover its composition and, especially, the components of its apparently gaseous envelope.
They ARE still able to use the ships and the scanners to get info! Well done, McCaffrey! I like when authors think of the same solutions I do.
...but McCaffrey giveth and taketh away too:
You all know that I’ve overflown to map the damage,” Kenjo began. “I didn’t know what I’d seen until I’d seen it often enough to realize what was not there.” He paused, as if steeling himself for rebuke or disbelief. “I don’t think all thread starved to death. And crazy Tubberman hasn’t gotten as far as I have. In most places, there are shells! But in nine circles that I have seen — and I landed to make sure I make no mistake — there were no shells.” He made a cutting gesture with both hands. “None. And these circles were by themselves, not in a group, and the area — demolished — was not as big as usual.” He glanced at each of the serious faces about him. “I see. I observe. I have pics, too.”
"Crazy Tubberman" - from the guy who STILL has a stockpile of hidden fuel. And I'm not sure I like this habit of the leadership of keeping relevant information from the populace. I appreciate wanting to avoid a panic, but it seems a little hypocritical to portray the people as being irrational in their fear and anger when every new discovery seems to support them having a damn good reason to be afraid and angry.
There is the disturbing question of what actually happens to the surviving Thread. What does it metamorphize into ?
That's a creepy question. It doesn't seem to have come up by the Ninth Pass, but Lavos took a few million years to mature properly...
Oh, by the way, the lady who had a baby was one of the contributing scientists. Because she's someone we're supposed to like, of course. And I do admire that resolve.
Three days later, there's another threadfall, out in Macedonia Province. Paul is able to give them advice: get under silicon plastic, use fire to ignite the stuff that hits the ground. They have some dragonets and two flame throwers...that doesn't seem like a lot. They ask if the folks at Landing will come, and Paul says they will. Paul also tells the guy who took the call to not tell anyone else about the new Fall.
...
You know. Again, I appreciate wanting to avoid a panic, but I really don't think I like the leadership here. I'm on Team "Let's use the resources on the Yokohama to send out some kind of distress beacon and get the fuck off this rock" here, I think. No one signed on for THIS bullshit.
Kenjo's apparently made a vehicle that could get out to that location in a short time. I'm guessing this is going to help vindicate him for hoarding fuel. Of course he had to! He needed to make things that help! He couldn't possibly do that if the fuel was part of the common stores, and thus used by the unworthy plebs.
Okay, deep breaths, I'm going to try to not be so bitchy about this chapter. Hopefully we'll get back to the characters I actually like soon.
So Kenjo and Tillek lead a rescue team out. The settlement is actually doing okay. Apparently the wind and squalls helped. As did the lizards of course. There are a few people still missing. Unfortunately, the settlement is ruined: the fields and orchards are destroyed. But, Pol notes that they still have plenty of seedlings at Landing and they can grow several crops a year.
Yeah, but how do you protect that from Threadfall? Huh, how do the Pernese eat now, I wonder. The dragons must protect the crops, I guess.
Oh, hey, Benden's on the rescue mission too. That makes me happy. McCaffrey must have realized that she really needed to let the guy have some establishing heroism. It's an improvement. We also get a nice humanizing moment when Paul winces at being addressed as Admiral. He'd really enjoyed being a civilian "agronomist" and doesn't particularly like the thought of going back to command.
I can sympathize with that. Even if I think your leadership kind of sucks, dude.
This rescue/scouting mission is interesting, because we're getting a glimpse at how Thread interacts with other weather systems and ecological factors. Rain, for example, can drown it before it reaches the surface Wind can push it aside. Dragonets burn it.
Tarvi's there too. I wonder how he's doing. He wonders if the settlement will be safe now. Paul admits they have no fucking idea. He and Pol discuss whether or not this is random or planned: Pol is pretty sure it's random. The Thread doesn't have discernible intelligence. Though he does admit that it's possible intelligence might develop at a later stage. (I think this comes up in the Acorna theories.)
When discussion turns to the dragonets, Tarvi tells us that Sallah insists they have a high level of intelligence. The fact that this poor guy is quoting his rapist makes me sad.
So they return to Landing. Unfortunately, people aren't really consoled by the whole fire and water kill Thread thing, though a dubious plus side to this is that no one's resisting the emergency measures anymore. Apparently there had been concerns that the new precautions violated charter autonomy. But pictures from Sadrid (the settlement that we saw earlier) quelled that.
Tarvi is on flamethrower-creation duty. Kenjo rigs holders for the said flamethrowers on the threads. Apparently, he thinks that the best defense is aerial offense. He's right of course, and this irrationally annoys me.
Labor is an issue. There's a bit to unpack here:
There were not hands enough to do all the jobs required. Twice Paul and Emily were called in to arbitrate labor-pirating. The agronomists and veterinarians hastily reinforced livestock shelters. Caves were explored as possible alternate accommodations. Empty warehouses at Landing were made into shelters for any stakeholders who wished to house stock for safety’s sake. Joel Lilienkamp insisted that due to the worker shortage the holders themselves would have to reinforce any buildings they preempted. Many stakeholders felt that that was Landing’s job; some were unwilling to leave their stakes unless, and until, assured of safe quarters. In eight years, the population of the settlers had increased far beyond the point where the original site could house even half the current numbers.
1) What is "labor-pirating"? It sounds something like conscript slavery? What do the laborers want?
2) And of course we have the set up of the selfish stakeholders expecting everything from poor beleaguered Landing.
3) I think we see more narrative bias here when we talk about the population increase of the settlers. It's presented as a drain of resources. But the settlements are only eight years old, and there's no other source of immigration. So this "population increase" we're talking about would be CHILDREN. All children, under the age of 7-8. No wonder there's concern about the ability to house them.
Though this also raises the question of how quickly do these people reproduce??
Porrig's still in his cave. Apparently, Sean did give him Cricket. Or at least has lent him to him, as Cricket has a lovely comfortable stallion box. He's also magnanimously allowed other survivors to stay with him until they find their own accommodations.
Paul and Emily are back in charge, kind of unintentionally. And hey, more anti-Ted stuff:
I’d far rather they came to me than to Ted Tubberman.” Paul remarked wearily to Ongola when the former communications officer brought him the latest urgent queries from outlying stakes. He turned to the psychologist Tom Patrick, who had come to report on the latest round of gripes and rumors. “Tom?”
“I don’t think you can stall a showdown much longer,” he said, “or you and Emily will lose all credibility. That would be a big error. You two may not want to take command, but someone will have to. Tubberman’s constantly undermining community effort and spirit. He’s so totally negative that you ought to be thankful that most of the time he’s out trying single-handedly to clear the continent of rotting Threadshell. Grief has totally distorted his perceptions and judgment.”
...I mean. IS it distorted?
I'm just saying, Pern is a death world. And while we do know humanity will survive thousands of years in the future, we also know that the adaptations made to survive will gradually transform the society into something completely unrecognizable. People live in fucking caves, ruled by feudalistic "Holders" with very little by way of rights. Women, in particular, are basically treated as chattel. Unless they run off and join the dragonriders, where, if they're LUCKY, they become part of a servant class, and if they're UNLUCKY, they bond with a dragon and get to become the sexual commodity whose vagina basically determined the next (male) leader.
Pern is a great setting for stories, but it's a horrible place to live. Ted Tubberman is RIGHT, and they should get the fuck out of there. For their descendants' sake, if not their own.
Anyway, Emily is all "surely no one believes his ranting", which seems remarkably naive.
Oh hey:
“There’re just enough long-buried gripes and resentments, and good honest gut-fear, right now that some people do listen to him. Especially in the absence of authorized versions,” Tom replied. “Tubberman’s complaints have a certain factual basis. Warped, to be sure.” The psychologist shrugged, raising both hands, palms up. “In time, he’ll work against himself — I hope. Meanwhile he’s roused a substantial undercurrent of resentment which had better be countered soon. Preferably by you gentlemen and Emily and the other captains. They still trust you, you know, in spite of Tubberman’s accusations.”
I think it might help if we actually saw what Tubberman is saying. Because all we've been witness to was his fear and anger about Thread, which is completely valid. We don't actually know what his complaints are about the colony leadership though. We're stuck taking Tom's word for it, that it's "warped".
Honestly, it makes me think that McCaffrey knows full well that the colony leadership is mishandling things and that Tubberman is completely right to want to get the fuck off of the planet, and can't think of a way to present his argument to make him look wrong.
Unfair? Maybe. But it'd be easily fixed by showing us why Tubberman is so off-base. I could accept that Sh'gall, Tolocamp and T'kul were dicks. I'll still complain that they're cartoon characters, of course, but their actions do demonstrate that they're awful. Tell me why Tubberman is awful.
Because all I really know about the guy is that he hates Thread. I don't even, technically, know that he wants off Pern. I got that from his wiki entry earlier.
Anyway, anyway, Paul is being modest and basically says that the decision to reinstate them should be spontaneous and handled strictly on charter protocol, which seems inconsistent, but okay. Of course, they're going to be reinstated. More centralized autonomy. No room for Tubberman's "wilder notions" (which are what?) yeah yeah yeah.
So they end up having a mass meeting at the partially repaired Bonfire Square. There are speeches that I'm not bothering to recap. A bunch of characters that we're supposed to like, like Mar Dook, Pol and Bay (who now go by Harkenon-Nietro), Ezra Keroon and Jim Tillek go on stage.
Oh, okay, we do see some of Tubberman's antics while he heckles them from the crowd.
“You stupid bastard, we can’t leave!” Ted Tubberman jumped to his feet, wildly waving clenched fists in the air. “You fixed it so we’ll rot here, sucked up by those effing things. We can’t leave! We’ll all die here.”
Okay, not helpful. Not invalid though.
Sean is irked, saying Ted knew it was a one-way trip. I get the sense that this is going to end up being the justification for a lot. But um, I still maintain that none of these people signed onto settling on a literal death world. Pern is supposed to be Earth-like. Not with apocalyptic monster rain.
Anyway, the speechgiver, Cabot, is very good at focusing the crowd. He ALSO points out that they knew when they signed the charter that there'd be no turning back. And his voice is "rich with contempt for the faint of heart, the coward, and the quitter."
Fuck you, dude. Death rain. I'm with Tubberman. Only you know, someone who's actually useful. Honestly, at this point, if someone did hijack the Yokohama or send out a homing beacon, I'd fucking cheer for them.
Thing is, I don't dislike the idea of reforming the government and actually dealing with the crisis. I just wish that the narrative didn't try to pretend everyone who is unhappy is unreasonable or out of line. It reminds me of Darkover. Only bad people don't appreciate this wonderful paradise of a death world.
...oh, actually, Ted DOES have a useful suggestion:
"Wait just a minute!” Ted Tubberman cried, jumping to his feet again, spreading out his arms and looking around, his chin jutting forward aggressively. “We’ve got a surefire option, a realistic one. We can send a homing capsule to Earth and ask for assistance. This is a state of emergency. We need help!”
Sean is scornful, accusing him of squealing like a stuck pig. But...he's right? They DO need help. The fact is, they're only going to survive as a society because of the magical ability to suddenly breed fire lizards into giant dragons. (Yeah, yeah, genetic engineering, but we know real world genetic engineering doesn't work that fast.)
Keroon points out that it'd be ten years before they get a reply. Okay, so? If they survive, hurray!
Tillek rants that he doesn't want "old Terra" or the "First" poking their noses into Pernese business. And that's well and good. But the anti-Earthers aren't the only people on the fucking planet. Why should Ted Tubberman, and any other unhappy person, be imprisoned on this planet because the others are too stupid to ask for help?
Again, sure, they signed on for a one-way trip, but this is new information!
But Tillek is one of our heroes, so of course, he wins over most of the crowd. Sorka and Sean agree.
Oh, here we go:
“We’ve got to send a message,” Ted Tubberman shouted, shaking off the attempts of his immediate neighbors to make him sit down. “We’ve got to tell them we’re in trouble. We’ve a right to help! What’s wrong in sending a message?”
“What’s wrong?” Wade Lorenzo shouted from the back of the audience. “We need help right now, Tubberman, not ten to thirty years from now. Why, by then, we’d probably have the thing licked. A Fall’s not all that bad,” he added with the confidence of experience. He sat down amid hoots and shouts of dissent, mainly from those who had been at Landing during the tragedy.
Yeah, how's it going. Nine "Passes" later?
Okay, so guys, gotta say, you're going to really get sick of me waving this "Ted Tubberman was Right" flag. But I'm going to keep waving it.
(Hah, maybe McCaffrey has a point by making her villains mostly completely unlikeable. Because it's pretty obvious that I'm taking the side that I'm not supposed to be taking here.)
So there's more talk about how the centralized government will work, in terms of allocation of resources and all. And this part is useful. Joel Liliencamp (a good grieving person and not filled with an irrational desire to call for help against what will be a millennia long threat) brings up going back to hydroponics for food sources. Tillek points out that sea life is okay.
Oh hey:
“Most early civilizations lived almost entirely from the sea,” Mairi Hanrahan cried in a ringing, challenging tone. “Joel’s right — we can use alternate methods of growing. And, as long as we can harvest the sea for fresh protein, we’ll be just fine. I think we all ought to buck up, instead of collapsing under the first little snag.” She stared significantly at Ted Tubberman.
“Little snag?” he roared. He would have shoved through the crowd to get to Mairi if he had not been restrained. Tarvi and Fulmar moved in closer to him.
Nothing like a bit of threatened violence toward a woman to distract from the fact that Ted's still right.
And to be fair, Mar Dook agrees that it's hardly a little snag, and that it's been tragic. He urges them not to fight amongst themselves, and focus on what they can do with their resources at hand.
Okay, I'll give McCaffrey this part:
“I don’t want just to survive, hand to mouth,” Ted Tubberman shouted, his chin jerking out belligerently, “cooped up in a building wondering if those things are going to eat their way through to me!”
“Ted, that’s the biggest bunch of bilgewash I’ve ever heard from a grown man,” Jim Tillek said. “We got a bit of a problem with our new world that I sure as hell am going to help solve. So quit your bitching, and let’s figure out just how to cope. We’re here, man, and we’re going to survive!”
“I want us to send home for help,” someone else said calm but firm. “I feel that we’re going to need the defenses a sophisticated society can supply, especially as we brought so little technology with us. And most especially if this stuff returns so often.”
“Once we’ve sent for help, we have to take what is sent,” Cabot said quickly.
I appreciate this inclusion of a calmer voice. Not worthy of a name, of course, but it IS nice to see that not everyone in Tubberman's camp is being portrayed as irrational as he is supposedly. Though, his description of life isn't necessarily incorrect when it comes to the society we'll end up getting.
(And fuck you, Cabot. Something is better than nothing.)
Ted wants a vote on it. Which seems reasonable to me. One of the medics seconds the motion. Personally, I don't even think the majority should have the right to trap the minority on the planet even if they did vote. But I am, admittedly, very biased here.
Wade Lorenzo points out that not everyone is here tonight, but Cabot basically says that if they want to skip a meeting, they have to abide by the decision of those that attended. Which seems like fucking bullshit to me. But as we've seen, these guys don't seem to understand the concept of informed consent.
Which explains a lot about most of the relationships in Pern, to be fair.
Anyway, Tubberman loses the vote. He's upset, but there you go. (I'm still going to cheer for the inevitable evil rebels who try to get off this fucking rock.) They reinstate Emily and Paul, noting that Boll kept her planet together during a five year long space embargo, and Benden is the best man to organize a defensive strategy. Fair enough, I suppose. I could wish they weren't so inclined to keep secrets, but they do seem to have relevant skill sets.
Tubberman, of course, continues to rant that this is rigged. Of course. The stupider/more extreme he looks, the less we'll think about his argument. Still waving my "Ted Tubberman was Right" flag.
Paul and Emily accept, and Paul specifies that it's only for the duration of this emergency. Oh, I forgot to mention, but Paul seems to be married now. Good for him, I'm sure she's a much more dutiful and acceptable woman than Bitra.
So they start talking defense, and I do approve of this. Even though I'm waving my flag, I do admit that for the ten years it takes for a response, they do need to figure out how to survive. There's standing and cheering, though the chapter ends with Ongola taking note of the people who remain seated or silent. Hmph.
As mentioned, the chapter ends here.
I feel like I should clarify, I don't hate this book. I'm complaining a LOT, because I feel like the narrative is transparently pushing a "right answer" that I disagree with. But I do enjoy most of the characters, and I do enjoy seeing the steps that they're making to survive. And I'm looking forward to seeing their cleverness and resourcefulness going forward.
But I'm still going to be waving a "Ted Tubberman Was Right" flag. Sorry.
The chapter starts interestingly by telling us that the two psychologists had flown in late that evening to help deal with the traumas. And there is a lot of trauma. Cherry Duff, we're told, had suffered a stroke but is recovering. Joel and his apparently nameless wife are "prostrated" by the loss of their sons. Eek. I'd bet. Bernard Hagelman is burying his own grief to help his wife and other families.
Sean and Sorka have been busy, sledding in wounded. Apparently Sean's father, Porrig, had sent his wife and daughter to the other survivors for emotional support, while he stays with the rest of his family in his cave. Sean's bitter reaction is interesting...
“The first time Porrig Connell ever did anything for anyone else,” his son remarked under his breath to Sorka, who berated him for such cynicism. “He wants to use Cricket to service the rest of his mares when they foal. He expects me to give up my stallion because he hadn’t trained his!”
Sorka wisely said nothing.
It sounds like Sean's dad explains a lot of why Sean is the way he is.
Oh, of course. Of course. McCaffrey is McCaffrey:
With one exception, the distant holdings had contacted Landing, offering either assistance or sympathy. The one exception was the Big Island mining camp, comprised of Avril Bitra, Stev Kimmer, Nabhi Nabol, and a few others. Ongola, running over the log, noticed their absence.
Of fucking course. Because god forbid our asshole villains show a moment of empathy toward their fellow settlers. McCaffrey never met a nuance or layer that she didn't want to beat flat with a stick.
KENJO though, we're supposed to like him (despite the fuel theft), so HE comes in from his distant Honshu plateau and heads the aerial survey - providing maps and pics of the newly named "Threadfall". Of fucking course.
The biologists are examining samples. They've got a lot. People are pretty freaked out. And to be honest, I can't blame them:
By the time the pulsing life-form reached Landing, it coiled, a gross meter long and perhaps ten centimeters in circumference, resembling a heavy hawser. Double-thick slabs of transparent silicon-based building plastic, tightly banded with metal strips, were rigged into a cage, its base quikplased to the floor. Several thin slits with locking flaps were created. A hole the size of the barrel opening was incised in the top, the barrel lid readied, and with the help of grimly anxious volunteers the terrible creature was transferred from barrel to cage. The top opening was sealed as soon as the life-form was dropped into the plastic cube.
One of the men scrambled for a corner to be sick in. Others averted their faces. Only Tarvi and Mar Dook seemed unmoved by the creature’s writhing as it engulfed the food that had been placed in the cube.
In its urgency to ingest, the thing rippled in waves of gray, greasy colors: sickly greens, dull pink tones, and an occasional streak of yellow flowed across its surface, the image sickeningly distorted by the thick clear plastic. The outer covering of the beast seemed to thicken. The thick shell probably formed at its demise, the observers guessed, for such remains had been found in rocky places where the organism had starved. The interior of the beast evidently deteriorated as rapidly as it had initially expanded. Was it really alive? Or was it some malevolent chemical entity feeding on life? Certainly its appetite was voracious, although the very act of eating seemed to interfere with whatever physical organization the beast had, as if what it consumed hastened its destruction.
Ew.
Bay is the one who actually wonders where it came from, suggesting Outer Space. This is, weirdly enough, an "astonishing query", but god knows why. If it doesn't resemble life on Pern, why not guess extra-Pernese origins? They start wondering about the comets or the "eccentric body", and if it's brought in from the Oort cloud.
Tillek is the one who ends up theorizing the answer, having noticed the "red morning star" getting brighter these past weeks. They make preparations to observe what the thread eats and how it dies.
Oh hey, here's another character we're supposed to hate, apparently:
By lunch time, a meal was served from the old communal kitchens, and rumor was rife. By midafternoon, Ted Tubberman and a fellow malcontent, their faces streaked and drawn by grief, led bereaved relatives to the door of the containment unit.
Everyone's shocked and horrified, but Ted Tubberman is a "malcontent" apparently. Immediately we're told that Mar Dook, one of the theorizing scientists, resents Tubberman's manner ("but respecting his grief" - are you?). But see, the problem is, Ted is daring to express unhappiness with being on a fucking death world:
“That explains very little, Mar,’’ Ted replied, belligerently sticking out his chin. “In all my years as a botanist, I never saw a plant symbiont dangerous to humans. What do we get next? A death moss?”
Emily reached out to touch Tubberman’s arm in sympathy, but he jerked away.
Maybe it's just me, but I think Ted's got a fair fucking question. They've suddenly, eight years in, discovered a fucking terrifying biohazard. They've seen signs now that this is not a one-time occurrence. Why is unreasonable for him to be angry? Or wonder about other hazards that they don't know about?
And indeed:
“It’s still alive? You’re keeping it alive!” Ted was livid with irrational outrage. Beside him, his companions nodded agreement as fresh tears streamed down their faces. Murmuring angrily among themselves, the delegation crowded closer to the entrance, every one of them seeking an outlet for frustration and impotent grief.
"Irrational?" We were told two pages ago, that only Tarvi and Mar Dook could keep from turning away or being sick at the sight of this thing. But Ted specifically is "irrational".
I'm sorry, I know I'm a broken record here. I just have to rant about this trait of McCaffrey's. She's a good author overall. She created well-developed worlds, fascinating scenarios. She can create likable characters and has a remarkably efficient grasp of pacing and plot when she bothers to use it. But she seems to be utterly incapable of letting her audience make up their own minds about her characters.
I'm starting to wonder if it's some kind of writer-based trauma. Like she encountered some 1950s or 1960s equivalent of Reylo fandom, which focused so much on a complicated villain that she didn't dare ever allow her villains any complication or humanizing characteristic what so ever.
Bitra, until now, had done NOTHING objectively wrong. She had an idea of where to stake a claim, based on information everyone apparently knew. She wants to leave the planet, which is, apparently an evil goal. But hasn't done anything substantial to pursue that goal, that we know of. Not yet.
But McCaffrey spends every waking moment making sure that we know she's evil-evil-evil. She hates kids! And puppies! Don't worry guys! Everyone hates her. Why? Um...she slept with an older, more powerful dude. So she's terrible. Yeah!
Ted Tubberman isn't quite as mistreated, but still, immediately as he's introduced, he's mispronouncing his colleagues' names and being a general dick. He's unpleasant and unattractive. We're meant to dislike him in advance so that when he expresses unhappiness with how the current folks are running things, we're immediately against him. Just in case we're inclined to wonder if the guy who wants off the death planet has a point, we're told by every other character how much they resent him.
(I will give McCaffrey this: Ted Tubberman, if I recall my Pern wiki correctly, will be the person who develops the grubs. And the grubs are possibly the singularly most useful invention they've got. I'd argue that they're possibly as important as the dragons themselves. I bring this up because I am genuinely surprised that she's going to let a character that we are clearly supposed to dislike have a positive legacy of any kind. I suppose, we'll see how it happens in context.)
Tubberman does have a reason for his antagonism though, his daughter (mentioned last chapter) was devoured by Thread. So, I'll give McCaffrey that. It's baby steps, balanced out by the fact that we got paragraphs characterizing him as irrational, belligerent and unlikable first. McCaffrey doesn't seem to realize that this immediately makes Mar Dook seem kind of awful for resenting the manner in which the grieving father expresses his grief. It would be easy enough to have Mar Dook show a moment of empathy and regret. Instead:
“I’m a father first, and my daughter was . . . devoured by one of those creatures! So was Joe Milan, and Patsy Swann, Eric Hegelman, Bob Jorgensen, and . . .” Tubberman’s face was livid. His fists clenched at his sides, his whole body strained with rage and frustration. He glared accusingly at Emily and Paul. “We trusted you two. How could you bring us to a place that devours our children and all we’ve achieved the past eight years!” The murmurs of the delegation supported his accusation. “We” — his wide gesture took in the packed numbers behind him — “want that thing dead. You’ve had long enough to study it. C’mon, people. We know what we have to do!” With a final bitter, searing look at the biologists, he turned, roughly pushing aside those in his path. “Fire kills it!”
He stomped off, raging. His followers left with him.
“It won’t matter what they do, Paul,” Mar Dook said, restraining Paul Benden from going after Ted. “The beast is moribund now. Give them the corpse to vent their feelings on. We’ve about finished what examinations we can make anyhow.” He shrugged wearily. “For all the good it does us.”
Ted is grieving, but the grief isn't meant to humanize him. It's meant to be a trigger for his irrational resentment of the leadership that we're supposed to admire.
...it's funny, but in a weird way, Paul Benden reminds me of Brekke in Dragonquest. Because if I think about it, I'm not sure that McCaffrey has given me any reason to admire or like Paul Benden as a character. Brekke's personality, in Dragonquest, was defined solely by her antagonist. Paul makes a bit more of an impression as a person, but as a leader? We have Bitra trying to manipulate him and resenting losing her grip on him. We have Ted lashing out here.
(IS Paul a good leader though? He seems to be managing things okay, I guess. Except for the whole letting his friend siphon and hoard what should be communal resources, even while going "Gosh, I hope my ex-girlfriend never finds out and uses it. *insert shrug emoji here*. It's not like if we kept it in proper storage, it would be protected and watched and she'd never have the opportunity or anything....")
...
Wearily, Mar Dook scrubbed at his face, his sallow skin nearly gray as he slumped onto a table that was littered with tapes and slide containers. “We now know that it is carbon based, has complex, very large proteins which flick from state to state and produce movement, and others which attack and digest an incredible range of organic substances. It is almost as if the creature was designed specifically to be inimical to our kind of life.”
“I’m glad you kept that to yourself,” Emily said wryly, looking over her shoulder at the door swinging shut on a view of the angry group heading away.
Okay, one paragraph after very blatantly portraying Ted as an irrational grief-stricken mess, Mar Dook immediately basically admits he has a point. And Emily's reaction is to just be happy that he didn't say this around the grieving people. Because they're irrational, you know. And they're irrational because...they think that this creature is meant to kill us.
Paul is skeptical about this whole "designed to kill us" thing. Mar Dook notes that fellow scientist Phas has an even wilder suggestion: Phas thinks it could be a weapon to prepare for invasion.
One interesting thing I remember stumbling across is a theory that the Thread in the Pern novels is related to the ...villains? Doomsday world destroying type adversaries? In the Acorna series. Like the Thread could be the larval form of those creatures? I thought that was a pretty interesting thought.
It also reminds me a bit of Lavos in Chrono Trigger, though I doubt that's intentional. Pern obviously predates Chrono Trigger (though Acorna came out afterward.)
Pol, wisely, shuts down the idea of an invasion though. There's no sign of extra-Pernese life. (Though I'm curious about the way the aquatic life forms eat them.) We're told that every other planet in the sector is inimical to carbon-based life, so it probably has to come from this system. Does it? HUMANS don't come from this system. But okay.
Do they still have their ships? Can they SCAN the Red Star?
But anyway, the biologists are exhausted and traumatized themselves, so even though Phas fears that they've missed something obvious and important, they're not able to think about it now. And oh, here, some belated sympathy...
“No one thinks straight after forty hours on the trot,” Paul said clasping Phas by the shoulder to give him a reassuring shake. “Let’s look at your notes again when you’ve had some rest and something to eat, away from the stench in here. Jim, Emily, and I will wait and deal with Ted’s delegation. They’re overreacting.” He sighed. ‘’Not that I blame them. Sudden grief is always a shock. However, I personally would rather plan for the worst that can happen. As you’ve suggested several dire options, we won’t be surprised by anything that happens. And we should plan to reduce its effects on the settlements.”
Paul had a quiet word with one of the psychologists, whose opinion was that the thwarted tensions of the bereaved might be eased with what he termed “a ritual incineration.” So they stepped aside when Ted Tubberman and his adherents demanded the cube and destroyed it in a blazing fire. The resultant stench gagged many, which helped to speed the dispersal of the onlookers. Only Ted and a few others remained to watch the embers cool.
The psychologist shook his head slowly. “I think I’ll keep an eye on Ted Tubberman for a while,” he told Paul and Emily. “That was apparently not enough to assuage his grief.”
So I do like that Paul is showing empathy to the grieving people. And I appreciate that, unlike say Bitra, there is emphasis on Ted having some sympathetic aspects triggering his difficult personality. I do think there was a way to present this a little more even-handed, but I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
So we get more details on the recovery. Kenjo's discovered traces of earlier Threadfall on Ierne Island. (And there's a witness who remembers a rainstorm littered with motes, as opposed to Thread.) They discover more traces of destruction while scouting the northern continent. This unfortunately proves that this is a world wide instance. And even worse, the old survey pics also show what they now recognize as evidence of Thread, and it's widespread. The team, they realize, must have arrived, just after the event.
Hey, more irrational Ted behavior:
To assuage mounting fears and tension, Betty Musgrave-Blake and Bill Duff undertook to review the survey’s original botanical data. Ted Tubberman was the only trained botanist who had survived, but he spent his days tracking down every Thread shell and his evenings burning the piles. The psychologists continued to monitor his aberrant behavior.
...is it really aberrant? I mean, it makes sense to me. I feel like the psychologists in McCaffrey's universe aren't very competent.
OH! Okay! Look at this!
In an attempt to disprove Mar’s theory of purposeful design or Phas’s equally disturbing suggestion of invasion, Ezra Keroon spent that day on the link with the Yokohama’s mainframe. His calculations confirmed beyond question that the eccentric planet had an orbit of 250 years. But it only stayed in the inner system for a little while, the way Haley’s comet periodically visited Sol. It was too much to suppose there was no connection, and, after consulting Paul and Emily, Ezra programmed one of the Yokohama’s few remaining probes to circumnavigate the planet and discover its composition and, especially, the components of its apparently gaseous envelope.
They ARE still able to use the ships and the scanners to get info! Well done, McCaffrey! I like when authors think of the same solutions I do.
...but McCaffrey giveth and taketh away too:
You all know that I’ve overflown to map the damage,” Kenjo began. “I didn’t know what I’d seen until I’d seen it often enough to realize what was not there.” He paused, as if steeling himself for rebuke or disbelief. “I don’t think all thread starved to death. And crazy Tubberman hasn’t gotten as far as I have. In most places, there are shells! But in nine circles that I have seen — and I landed to make sure I make no mistake — there were no shells.” He made a cutting gesture with both hands. “None. And these circles were by themselves, not in a group, and the area — demolished — was not as big as usual.” He glanced at each of the serious faces about him. “I see. I observe. I have pics, too.”
"Crazy Tubberman" - from the guy who STILL has a stockpile of hidden fuel. And I'm not sure I like this habit of the leadership of keeping relevant information from the populace. I appreciate wanting to avoid a panic, but it seems a little hypocritical to portray the people as being irrational in their fear and anger when every new discovery seems to support them having a damn good reason to be afraid and angry.
There is the disturbing question of what actually happens to the surviving Thread. What does it metamorphize into ?
That's a creepy question. It doesn't seem to have come up by the Ninth Pass, but Lavos took a few million years to mature properly...
Oh, by the way, the lady who had a baby was one of the contributing scientists. Because she's someone we're supposed to like, of course. And I do admire that resolve.
Three days later, there's another threadfall, out in Macedonia Province. Paul is able to give them advice: get under silicon plastic, use fire to ignite the stuff that hits the ground. They have some dragonets and two flame throwers...that doesn't seem like a lot. They ask if the folks at Landing will come, and Paul says they will. Paul also tells the guy who took the call to not tell anyone else about the new Fall.
...
You know. Again, I appreciate wanting to avoid a panic, but I really don't think I like the leadership here. I'm on Team "Let's use the resources on the Yokohama to send out some kind of distress beacon and get the fuck off this rock" here, I think. No one signed on for THIS bullshit.
Kenjo's apparently made a vehicle that could get out to that location in a short time. I'm guessing this is going to help vindicate him for hoarding fuel. Of course he had to! He needed to make things that help! He couldn't possibly do that if the fuel was part of the common stores, and thus used by the unworthy plebs.
Okay, deep breaths, I'm going to try to not be so bitchy about this chapter. Hopefully we'll get back to the characters I actually like soon.
So Kenjo and Tillek lead a rescue team out. The settlement is actually doing okay. Apparently the wind and squalls helped. As did the lizards of course. There are a few people still missing. Unfortunately, the settlement is ruined: the fields and orchards are destroyed. But, Pol notes that they still have plenty of seedlings at Landing and they can grow several crops a year.
Yeah, but how do you protect that from Threadfall? Huh, how do the Pernese eat now, I wonder. The dragons must protect the crops, I guess.
Oh, hey, Benden's on the rescue mission too. That makes me happy. McCaffrey must have realized that she really needed to let the guy have some establishing heroism. It's an improvement. We also get a nice humanizing moment when Paul winces at being addressed as Admiral. He'd really enjoyed being a civilian "agronomist" and doesn't particularly like the thought of going back to command.
I can sympathize with that. Even if I think your leadership kind of sucks, dude.
This rescue/scouting mission is interesting, because we're getting a glimpse at how Thread interacts with other weather systems and ecological factors. Rain, for example, can drown it before it reaches the surface Wind can push it aside. Dragonets burn it.
Tarvi's there too. I wonder how he's doing. He wonders if the settlement will be safe now. Paul admits they have no fucking idea. He and Pol discuss whether or not this is random or planned: Pol is pretty sure it's random. The Thread doesn't have discernible intelligence. Though he does admit that it's possible intelligence might develop at a later stage. (I think this comes up in the Acorna theories.)
When discussion turns to the dragonets, Tarvi tells us that Sallah insists they have a high level of intelligence. The fact that this poor guy is quoting his rapist makes me sad.
So they return to Landing. Unfortunately, people aren't really consoled by the whole fire and water kill Thread thing, though a dubious plus side to this is that no one's resisting the emergency measures anymore. Apparently there had been concerns that the new precautions violated charter autonomy. But pictures from Sadrid (the settlement that we saw earlier) quelled that.
Tarvi is on flamethrower-creation duty. Kenjo rigs holders for the said flamethrowers on the threads. Apparently, he thinks that the best defense is aerial offense. He's right of course, and this irrationally annoys me.
Labor is an issue. There's a bit to unpack here:
There were not hands enough to do all the jobs required. Twice Paul and Emily were called in to arbitrate labor-pirating. The agronomists and veterinarians hastily reinforced livestock shelters. Caves were explored as possible alternate accommodations. Empty warehouses at Landing were made into shelters for any stakeholders who wished to house stock for safety’s sake. Joel Lilienkamp insisted that due to the worker shortage the holders themselves would have to reinforce any buildings they preempted. Many stakeholders felt that that was Landing’s job; some were unwilling to leave their stakes unless, and until, assured of safe quarters. In eight years, the population of the settlers had increased far beyond the point where the original site could house even half the current numbers.
1) What is "labor-pirating"? It sounds something like conscript slavery? What do the laborers want?
2) And of course we have the set up of the selfish stakeholders expecting everything from poor beleaguered Landing.
3) I think we see more narrative bias here when we talk about the population increase of the settlers. It's presented as a drain of resources. But the settlements are only eight years old, and there's no other source of immigration. So this "population increase" we're talking about would be CHILDREN. All children, under the age of 7-8. No wonder there's concern about the ability to house them.
Though this also raises the question of how quickly do these people reproduce??
Porrig's still in his cave. Apparently, Sean did give him Cricket. Or at least has lent him to him, as Cricket has a lovely comfortable stallion box. He's also magnanimously allowed other survivors to stay with him until they find their own accommodations.
Paul and Emily are back in charge, kind of unintentionally. And hey, more anti-Ted stuff:
I’d far rather they came to me than to Ted Tubberman.” Paul remarked wearily to Ongola when the former communications officer brought him the latest urgent queries from outlying stakes. He turned to the psychologist Tom Patrick, who had come to report on the latest round of gripes and rumors. “Tom?”
“I don’t think you can stall a showdown much longer,” he said, “or you and Emily will lose all credibility. That would be a big error. You two may not want to take command, but someone will have to. Tubberman’s constantly undermining community effort and spirit. He’s so totally negative that you ought to be thankful that most of the time he’s out trying single-handedly to clear the continent of rotting Threadshell. Grief has totally distorted his perceptions and judgment.”
...I mean. IS it distorted?
I'm just saying, Pern is a death world. And while we do know humanity will survive thousands of years in the future, we also know that the adaptations made to survive will gradually transform the society into something completely unrecognizable. People live in fucking caves, ruled by feudalistic "Holders" with very little by way of rights. Women, in particular, are basically treated as chattel. Unless they run off and join the dragonriders, where, if they're LUCKY, they become part of a servant class, and if they're UNLUCKY, they bond with a dragon and get to become the sexual commodity whose vagina basically determined the next (male) leader.
Pern is a great setting for stories, but it's a horrible place to live. Ted Tubberman is RIGHT, and they should get the fuck out of there. For their descendants' sake, if not their own.
Anyway, Emily is all "surely no one believes his ranting", which seems remarkably naive.
Oh hey:
“There’re just enough long-buried gripes and resentments, and good honest gut-fear, right now that some people do listen to him. Especially in the absence of authorized versions,” Tom replied. “Tubberman’s complaints have a certain factual basis. Warped, to be sure.” The psychologist shrugged, raising both hands, palms up. “In time, he’ll work against himself — I hope. Meanwhile he’s roused a substantial undercurrent of resentment which had better be countered soon. Preferably by you gentlemen and Emily and the other captains. They still trust you, you know, in spite of Tubberman’s accusations.”
I think it might help if we actually saw what Tubberman is saying. Because all we've been witness to was his fear and anger about Thread, which is completely valid. We don't actually know what his complaints are about the colony leadership though. We're stuck taking Tom's word for it, that it's "warped".
Honestly, it makes me think that McCaffrey knows full well that the colony leadership is mishandling things and that Tubberman is completely right to want to get the fuck off of the planet, and can't think of a way to present his argument to make him look wrong.
Unfair? Maybe. But it'd be easily fixed by showing us why Tubberman is so off-base. I could accept that Sh'gall, Tolocamp and T'kul were dicks. I'll still complain that they're cartoon characters, of course, but their actions do demonstrate that they're awful. Tell me why Tubberman is awful.
Because all I really know about the guy is that he hates Thread. I don't even, technically, know that he wants off Pern. I got that from his wiki entry earlier.
Anyway, anyway, Paul is being modest and basically says that the decision to reinstate them should be spontaneous and handled strictly on charter protocol, which seems inconsistent, but okay. Of course, they're going to be reinstated. More centralized autonomy. No room for Tubberman's "wilder notions" (which are what?) yeah yeah yeah.
So they end up having a mass meeting at the partially repaired Bonfire Square. There are speeches that I'm not bothering to recap. A bunch of characters that we're supposed to like, like Mar Dook, Pol and Bay (who now go by Harkenon-Nietro), Ezra Keroon and Jim Tillek go on stage.
Oh, okay, we do see some of Tubberman's antics while he heckles them from the crowd.
“You stupid bastard, we can’t leave!” Ted Tubberman jumped to his feet, wildly waving clenched fists in the air. “You fixed it so we’ll rot here, sucked up by those effing things. We can’t leave! We’ll all die here.”
Okay, not helpful. Not invalid though.
Sean is irked, saying Ted knew it was a one-way trip. I get the sense that this is going to end up being the justification for a lot. But um, I still maintain that none of these people signed onto settling on a literal death world. Pern is supposed to be Earth-like. Not with apocalyptic monster rain.
Anyway, the speechgiver, Cabot, is very good at focusing the crowd. He ALSO points out that they knew when they signed the charter that there'd be no turning back. And his voice is "rich with contempt for the faint of heart, the coward, and the quitter."
Fuck you, dude. Death rain. I'm with Tubberman. Only you know, someone who's actually useful. Honestly, at this point, if someone did hijack the Yokohama or send out a homing beacon, I'd fucking cheer for them.
Thing is, I don't dislike the idea of reforming the government and actually dealing with the crisis. I just wish that the narrative didn't try to pretend everyone who is unhappy is unreasonable or out of line. It reminds me of Darkover. Only bad people don't appreciate this wonderful paradise of a death world.
...oh, actually, Ted DOES have a useful suggestion:
"Wait just a minute!” Ted Tubberman cried, jumping to his feet again, spreading out his arms and looking around, his chin jutting forward aggressively. “We’ve got a surefire option, a realistic one. We can send a homing capsule to Earth and ask for assistance. This is a state of emergency. We need help!”
Sean is scornful, accusing him of squealing like a stuck pig. But...he's right? They DO need help. The fact is, they're only going to survive as a society because of the magical ability to suddenly breed fire lizards into giant dragons. (Yeah, yeah, genetic engineering, but we know real world genetic engineering doesn't work that fast.)
Keroon points out that it'd be ten years before they get a reply. Okay, so? If they survive, hurray!
Tillek rants that he doesn't want "old Terra" or the "First" poking their noses into Pernese business. And that's well and good. But the anti-Earthers aren't the only people on the fucking planet. Why should Ted Tubberman, and any other unhappy person, be imprisoned on this planet because the others are too stupid to ask for help?
Again, sure, they signed on for a one-way trip, but this is new information!
But Tillek is one of our heroes, so of course, he wins over most of the crowd. Sorka and Sean agree.
Oh, here we go:
“We’ve got to send a message,” Ted Tubberman shouted, shaking off the attempts of his immediate neighbors to make him sit down. “We’ve got to tell them we’re in trouble. We’ve a right to help! What’s wrong in sending a message?”
“What’s wrong?” Wade Lorenzo shouted from the back of the audience. “We need help right now, Tubberman, not ten to thirty years from now. Why, by then, we’d probably have the thing licked. A Fall’s not all that bad,” he added with the confidence of experience. He sat down amid hoots and shouts of dissent, mainly from those who had been at Landing during the tragedy.
Yeah, how's it going. Nine "Passes" later?
Okay, so guys, gotta say, you're going to really get sick of me waving this "Ted Tubberman was Right" flag. But I'm going to keep waving it.
(Hah, maybe McCaffrey has a point by making her villains mostly completely unlikeable. Because it's pretty obvious that I'm taking the side that I'm not supposed to be taking here.)
So there's more talk about how the centralized government will work, in terms of allocation of resources and all. And this part is useful. Joel Liliencamp (a good grieving person and not filled with an irrational desire to call for help against what will be a millennia long threat) brings up going back to hydroponics for food sources. Tillek points out that sea life is okay.
Oh hey:
“Most early civilizations lived almost entirely from the sea,” Mairi Hanrahan cried in a ringing, challenging tone. “Joel’s right — we can use alternate methods of growing. And, as long as we can harvest the sea for fresh protein, we’ll be just fine. I think we all ought to buck up, instead of collapsing under the first little snag.” She stared significantly at Ted Tubberman.
“Little snag?” he roared. He would have shoved through the crowd to get to Mairi if he had not been restrained. Tarvi and Fulmar moved in closer to him.
Nothing like a bit of threatened violence toward a woman to distract from the fact that Ted's still right.
And to be fair, Mar Dook agrees that it's hardly a little snag, and that it's been tragic. He urges them not to fight amongst themselves, and focus on what they can do with their resources at hand.
Okay, I'll give McCaffrey this part:
“I don’t want just to survive, hand to mouth,” Ted Tubberman shouted, his chin jerking out belligerently, “cooped up in a building wondering if those things are going to eat their way through to me!”
“Ted, that’s the biggest bunch of bilgewash I’ve ever heard from a grown man,” Jim Tillek said. “We got a bit of a problem with our new world that I sure as hell am going to help solve. So quit your bitching, and let’s figure out just how to cope. We’re here, man, and we’re going to survive!”
“I want us to send home for help,” someone else said calm but firm. “I feel that we’re going to need the defenses a sophisticated society can supply, especially as we brought so little technology with us. And most especially if this stuff returns so often.”
“Once we’ve sent for help, we have to take what is sent,” Cabot said quickly.
I appreciate this inclusion of a calmer voice. Not worthy of a name, of course, but it IS nice to see that not everyone in Tubberman's camp is being portrayed as irrational as he is supposedly. Though, his description of life isn't necessarily incorrect when it comes to the society we'll end up getting.
(And fuck you, Cabot. Something is better than nothing.)
Ted wants a vote on it. Which seems reasonable to me. One of the medics seconds the motion. Personally, I don't even think the majority should have the right to trap the minority on the planet even if they did vote. But I am, admittedly, very biased here.
Wade Lorenzo points out that not everyone is here tonight, but Cabot basically says that if they want to skip a meeting, they have to abide by the decision of those that attended. Which seems like fucking bullshit to me. But as we've seen, these guys don't seem to understand the concept of informed consent.
Which explains a lot about most of the relationships in Pern, to be fair.
Anyway, Tubberman loses the vote. He's upset, but there you go. (I'm still going to cheer for the inevitable evil rebels who try to get off this fucking rock.) They reinstate Emily and Paul, noting that Boll kept her planet together during a five year long space embargo, and Benden is the best man to organize a defensive strategy. Fair enough, I suppose. I could wish they weren't so inclined to keep secrets, but they do seem to have relevant skill sets.
Tubberman, of course, continues to rant that this is rigged. Of course. The stupider/more extreme he looks, the less we'll think about his argument. Still waving my "Ted Tubberman was Right" flag.
Paul and Emily accept, and Paul specifies that it's only for the duration of this emergency. Oh, I forgot to mention, but Paul seems to be married now. Good for him, I'm sure she's a much more dutiful and acceptable woman than Bitra.
So they start talking defense, and I do approve of this. Even though I'm waving my flag, I do admit that for the ten years it takes for a response, they do need to figure out how to survive. There's standing and cheering, though the chapter ends with Ongola taking note of the people who remain seated or silent. Hmph.
As mentioned, the chapter ends here.
I feel like I should clarify, I don't hate this book. I'm complaining a LOT, because I feel like the narrative is transparently pushing a "right answer" that I disagree with. But I do enjoy most of the characters, and I do enjoy seeing the steps that they're making to survive. And I'm looking forward to seeing their cleverness and resourcefulness going forward.
But I'm still going to be waving a "Ted Tubberman Was Right" flag. Sorry.
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Date: 2023-03-14 04:35 pm (UTC)The harping on the "one way trip" is also explained in that story which is something that really irritated me when I did read the novel and the short in a short period of time so details were fresh.
What happens with Ted is messy... very messy... I'll leave it at that so as to not spoil things for you.
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Date: 2023-03-14 05:49 pm (UTC)Ugh, I can read between the lines. I'll be waving a "Ted Tubberman was Wronged!" flag soon enough, I bet. :-D
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Date: 2023-03-14 07:32 pm (UTC)Maybe... Maybe not... Based on today's post, probably. *smile*
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Date: 2023-03-15 07:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-14 05:16 pm (UTC)This is never fully explained, but considering how wary characters are about getting help, it seems logical to me.
= Multi-Facets.
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Date: 2023-03-14 05:48 pm (UTC)(Admittedly, I'd probably still side with Ted, but it'd be a little easier to sympathize with everyone else.)
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Date: 2023-03-15 03:40 am (UTC)Anyway, upcoming chapters will spell out slightly more, and "Chronicles of Pern" will definitely have some "Oh. OH," moments.
= Multi-Facets.
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Date: 2023-03-15 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-08 09:58 am (UTC)What might have made the most sense, barring "everyone else out there is either dead or our sworn enemies", was if the colony was meant to be hardcore RETVRN and had thrown out most of the technology necessary to send a rescue beacon, and trying to cobble a new one together meant taking resources away from other solutions without any guarantee that it'd get off the ground.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-08 10:58 pm (UTC)