Dragonsdawn - Chapter Sixteen
Jun. 9th, 2023 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, we saw the exit of one Ted Tubberman, by way of genetically engineered cats. We also saw the dragonriders figure out how to go Between. But not without some tragedy in the mix.
Oh shit. We're apparently on the last chapter!
So we start out with some awful news. Emily's been in some kind of sled accident. She's got mutliple fractures, and apparently the prognosis isn't great. Paul, for some reason, has decided that they (meaning him, Ongola, Ezra Keroon and Joel Lilienkamp) keep quiet about her condition.
To Fort Hold, she's resting comfortably. For "outside inquiries", she's busy.
The fuck? Why? What's the deal with the secrecy here? Is it a morale thing, because dudes, you're on a death world. People are going to fucking die at some point.
This glimpse at Paul's surroundings gives a decent idea of what's going on:
Abruptly Paul pushed himself to his feet and began to pace his new office, the first apartment on the level above the Great Hall. Its windows gave an unimpeded view of the ordered rows of cargo and supplies that filled that end of the valley. Eventually all those goods would be stored in the vast subterranean caverns of Fort. So much had to be done, and he sorely missed Emily’s supportive presence.
He caught himself fingering the prosthetic fingers and jammed both hands into his pockets. His position had required him to contain his distress in order to avoid alarming people already under considerable tension. But before his close and trusted friends, he could give vent to the anxieties that they all shared.
...okay, I get the stiff upper lip part. But why not just admit the woman was injured? We get a bit more information about what happened:
The disastrous failure of the big sled’s gyros and its subsequent crash had been visible to the inhabitants of Fort Hold, but few had known that the governor had been a passenger that night. They could be honest about the severity of the pilot’s injuries, for he would recover easily from two broken arms and numerous lacerations. None of the other passengers had been severely hurt, and those who rescued the injured had not recognized Emily, her face bloodied by the head wound. At least until she was convalescing, Paul would not allow the facts to be common knowledge. Following so closely after the exodus from Landing, that crash, with the loss of some irreplaceable medical supplies as well as the sled itself, had to be minimized to sustain morale.
I'm still utterly lost here. I get that morale is important, but Emily's not really one of those central messianic leader types. I don't think anyone is assuming she's immortal. And what will you do if she does die?
Emily's husband is aware of the situation, at least, even insists on the secrecy because it's what Emily would want. I'm still boggled. Ongola asks how long they can expect to keep this secret, which seems like a reasonable question to me, but Paul gets upset:
“As long as we have to, dammit, Ongola! We can at least spare people one more worry, especially when we haven’t got a positive prognosis.” Paul drew in a deep breath. “The head wound wasn’t serious — no skull fracture — but it was a while before she was removed from the sled. The trauma wasn’t treated quickly enough, and we don’t have the sophisticated equipment to relieve the shock of multiple fracture. She must be given time and rest. Fulmar — ” Paul swung to the engineer. “There will be a transport sled ready to go south today, won’t there? I can’t keep stalling Desi.”
Apparently an engineer, Fulmar, is here too. He's taking this very hard. His team was on maintenance from the sound of it, and are exhausted and overworked. Paul blames himself for urging Emily to come north. Apparently the cargo wasn't secured properly. Just a mess of unfortunate circumstance at fault.
A part of me is genuinely surprised that McCaffrey didn't find a way to make it sabotage or incompetence, but I guess with Bitra, Nabol, and Ted dead, she didn't have anyone to demonize.
Sorry, that's not fair. I criticize McCaffrey enough for the things she actually writes. I shouldn't cast aspersions.
Anyway, Paul notes that they evacuated Landing, prepared a place, and now they have to mobilize enough personnel and machines to fight Thread. He doesn't hope for support from dragonets or dragons anymore.
I like how Wind Blossom was scorned for pointing out that the dragons were not a guaranteed fix, but she was actually right. For now.
This leads to a scene transition: Sorka is furious at Sean for the risks. He grabs her arms "obscurely irritated by her reaction". Hey, dude, fuck off. Don't start turning into Dragonflight F'lar now. She's got a right to be mad. So help me, McCaffrey, if you ruin them....
Carenath has apparently been telling all the dragons about his feat, and Sean thinks that he understands why Marco panicked. It's "total sensory deprivation". Carenath just calls it "between".
Oh, interesting. Did CARENATH name the concept of "Between"? I kind of like that. A lot.
More fodder for the "does Sorka hear all dragons" question:
They are in sight now, Carenath said just as Sorka replied, “Faranth says they’re in sight now.” She pointed northeast. “Polenth says that they hunted well. Meat!” Sorka gave a brief smile, and Sean decided that she was halfway to forgiving him.
I take that to mean she heard from Polenth directly. Though I suppose that it could be read ambiguously. The wiki entry backs me up though.
So Sean wants to test it. They're going to teleport to Kahrain Cove. They're NOT going to tell anyone in charge yet. Emily's gone to join the admiral after all (obviously they don't know about the accident), while Pol and Bay haven't returned yet. Sean wants to spring the finished product on them at once.
The dragons aren't breathing flame yet, but Sean's not worried. There's phosphine-bearing rock along the coasts. They've seen fire lizards chew it. It's the easiest part of the endeavor, per Sean. Sean is pretty good at pep talks, noting that Duluth had caught Marco off guard, and Marco panicked. But they're ready. They'll plan evasive tactics and practice "skipping" forward, essentially using Between to dodge thread. The fire lizards do it, after all.
We switch back to Paul. Oh, hey, check this bit out:
“Obviously, Paul told the worried pilots, “we’re not going to be able to protect as much land with such a depleted aerial coverage.”
“Damn it, Admiral,” Drake Bonneau said, twisting his face into a frown. “We were supposed to have enough power packs to last fifty years!”
“We did.” Joel Lilienkamp jumped to his feet once again. “Under normal usage. They have not had what anyone could possibly term normal usage, or even normal maintenance. And don’t blame Fulmar Stone and his crew. I don’t think they’ve had a full night’s sleep in months. The best mechanics in the world can’t make sleds operate on half-charged or badly charged packs.” Glaring belligerently around him, he sat down hard, and the chair rocked on the stone floor.
Are we having a problem with fuel, gentlemen? Gosh, who could have imagined? (Fuck Kenjo.)
Oh, check out this bullshit:
“The dragons are not yet a year old,” Paul said. “According to Wind Blossom” — he noted the subtly disapproving reaction to her name — “Pol, and Bay, the dragons will not be mature enough to be fully . . . operational . . . for another two or three months.”
This woman basically single-handedly kept her grandmother's project growing. What have YOU done, aside from scapegoat a scientist and fuck a subordinate, you asshole?
The people are scared and impatient, which is understandable. Unfortunately, waiting for something to mature takes time. He also wants to reassign Wind Blossom's staff. They don't have time, personnel or resources for further experimentation.
That's gratitude for you. I hope we don't end up with dragon plagues and the like needing cures in a few generations or anything.
...this doesn't make sense to me. Jim Keroon's convoy hit a storm that capsized nine craft. They've recovered all but two. But they may have lost some goods.
Paul regarded Ongola stolidly. “Does he have any idea how long that’s going to hold him up?” Ongola shook his head. “All the more reason, then, to reassign Wind Blossom’s personnel,” Paul said then. “When that’s done, I’ll have a word with Jim. It’s incredible that he’s got such an ill-assorted flotilla as far as he has! Through fog, Fall, and storm!”
...what does a bio-engineering staff have to do with this? I'm utterly perplexed. I guess they're going to be searching for lost material in the ocean?
Who knows, we're switching back to characters I like better. Carenath is chewing fire stone. Woo. Everyone's been figuring out the teleportation thing. Otto Hegelman suggests they keep a log, noting down reference points for everyone. They ended up requesting writing materials from Malay River's Stake. There are only children there, with a sixteen year old in charge.
“Everyone’s out fighting Thread, you know,” she said, cocking her head at them in what Tarrie later said was pure insolence.
“Desi gave us supplies for you,” Sean replied, stifling his resentment of her implied criticism and the current menial status of dragonriders. He gestured for Jerry and Otto to bring the cargo net into the house. “Would you have any notebooks we could have?”
Dude, don't get into a bitch fight with a teenager. For one, it's silly. For two, you won't win.
For whatever reason, the excuse that they're doing a coastline survey makes the girl less antagonistic. She points them to the schoolroom, wondering who has time for lessons these days. That's actually really sad, in my opinion.
The dragonriders seem to agree, as this reinforces their determination to accomplish their journey.
Interestingly, it looks like the Queen riders are giving their dragons firestone too. I thought that was supposed to sterilize the dragons, which is why only green riders chew firestone. Are the future folk wrong again?
Dave's Polenth is the first to burp up some fire. Then Carenath, and the others. So now, they can figure this out! Though it apparently smells awful. The male dragons produced flame but none of the females. Aw.
Wait a second. Are there NO green dragons yet? I don't remember them mentioned. Or Blue for that matter. Watch, the "lesser colors" will turn out to be some other way poor Wind Blossom doesn't measure up to her grandmother.
Apparently it may be as simple as the queens not being mature enough. Apparently, per the program, the males mature faster. Oh, hey, check this out:
“I was just thinking. Kit Ping was such a traditionalist . . .” Sorka regarded her husband for a long moment, until he ducked his head, unable to maintain the eye contact. “All right, Sean, you know every symbol in that program. Did Kit Ping introduce a gender discrimination?”
“A what?” Tarrie asked. The other queen riders gathered close, while the young men took discreet backward steps.
“A gender inhibition . . . meaning the queens lay eggs, and the other colors fight!” Sorka was disgusted.
I'm with you, Sorka. That's bullshit. Why would they have let the woman weaken half of their fighting force? Laying eggs is great, but they don't lay eggs every single season. But now I'm wondering if the greens will be a deliberate counter to that.
Sean tries to placate Sorka, reminding her that it might just be that the queens aren't mature enough. He also points out that the women can still fly with flame throwers. Which we know they'll do. So why NOT let them chew firestone when gold fire lizards can???
I do appreciate how the gender differences are part of the narrative now. I wonder if McCaffrey always had Kitti Ping's biases in mind as a reason, or if she had to come up with that excuse after the fact.
Back to Paul. Telgar is still pretty great, even if he did name himself after his rapist wife. Though this ALSO seems like an excuse to shit on Wind Blossom more:
“Actually, Paul,” Telgar said, glancing at Ozzie and Cobber, “those photophobes of Wind Blossom’s have proved to be extremely useful in subterranean explorations. Their instinct for hidden dangers — pitfalls in fact, and blind tunnels — is infallible.” The geologist gave one of his humorless smiles. “I’d like to keep them now that Wind Blossom has abandoned them, so to speak.” Telgar turned to Pol and Bay.
“It’s a relief to know they’ve some use,” Pol said sighing heavily. Both he and his wife had tried to reason with the indignant Wind Blossom when she had been requested to suspend the dragon program. Though she maintained that the emergency transfer from Landing to Fort had damaged many of the eggs in the clutch she had manipulated, Pol and Bay had seen the autopsy reports and knew that claim to be spurious. They had been lucky to hatch six live creatures.
Seriously, McCaffrey, this is starting to sound like a personal thing. What female Asian scientist peed in your cornflakes?
Anyway, Paul doesn't want uncontrolled breeding. Telgar and someone named Ozzie will agree to that. They do make sure to point out the watch whers' good traits: strong, able to eat anything.
Oh hey, Bay actually manages to be sensitive for one:
Paul continued to nod agreement. “I just want any further propagation cleared with Pol and Bay for the biology department.”
“We’re delighted, I assure you,” Bay said. “I didn’t approve of them, but I also cannot approve summary termination of any living creature which can be useful.”
Telgar rose abruptly, and Bay, wondering if her words had reminded him of Sallah’s death, mentally chastised herself for not thinking before she spoke. Ozzie and Cobber sprang to their feet as well.
This is the lady who blamed Wind Blossom for grieving her own grandmother. You can't convince me that she's sensitive now.
After Telgar leaves, Bay remarks on how he's changed. Well, being raped nightly by his wife for eight years without anyone knowing will probably do that. Bonding with his rapist and then her death would do it too. Also, you turned out to be a bitch over the last few years, so can you really talk?
Paul just notes that they've all changed. But he also wants to know if there's anything to be done about "Wind Blossom's intransigence".
What. The. Fuck.???
God forbid the woman be annoyed at her (perceived) unfair treatment. But apparently she's a misandrist or some nonsense:
“Tom Patrick says Wind Blossom chooses to distrust the male half of this leadership.” Paul grinned. Actually he did find the situation ludicrous, but since Wind Blossom had immured herself in her quarters until she “had a fair hearing,” he had grasped the opportunity to transfer personnel to more productive employment. Most of which had been grateful. You will, of course, continue to monitor the new dragon hatchlings.”
I'm not even saying that Paul is wrong to lay down some rules, per se. But the woman's allowed to have a complaint about it. And she's allowed to want a fair hearing. And given that Paul is the one who banged a subordinate, discarded her, demonized her, and forgave a male colleague for a far worse transgression (until Bitra's final strike anyway)...I think this might be a case of the misogynist calling the misandrist black. Just saying.
Update on the grubs: they're ready for a ground test. No mention of the sad fate of their creator or anything. Fucking assholes.
Oh, spoke too soon:
If they were extremely careful to use sleds and skimmers on only the most critical errands, they might just last out Pern’s current pass through the Oort cloud matter. But when it came around again, what would they do? Paul winced as he remembered the arrogance of Ted Tubberman in preempting the dispatch of the homing device. Had the man known how to activate it properly? Ironic, that! Would it be received? Acted upon? With the help of the technological society they had foresworn, his descendants could survive. Did he want them to? Had they any other choice? With adequate technology, the problem of Thread could possibly be solved. So far, ingenuity and natural resources had failed miserably.
Asking for help is arrogant now? Fuck you, Paul Benden.
Back to the dragon riders. They've made it to Seminole. Peter Chernoff (brother of dragonrider Tarrie) wants to know where they've been, which boggles the riders as they've been reporting into Fort everyday. But everyone's under stress: Fort Hold will face threadfall, without much by way of defense. And the news about Emily being injured has apparently leaked.
They have the HNO3 though. And some newly ready dragonriders. So Sean seizes the opportunity. They're going to fight Thread. Woo hoo! Awesome entrance time!
Or at least, awesome exit, as they prepare and go, to a disbelieving Peter's shock. And Woo:
“Whenever they started, sir, they’re already here.” Paul wondered if disappointment had got the better of his imperturbable second in command, for he could swear the man was laughing. “The seaport asks should they join the aerial defense of the harbor? And, Admiral sir, I’ve got it on visuals! Our dragons are fighting Thread! I’ll patch it in to your screen.”
Paul watched as the picture cleared and the focus lengthened to show him the unbelievable vision of tiny flying creatures, undeniably spouting flame from their mouths at the silver rain that fell in a dreadful curtain over the harbor. He had that one view before the picture was interrupted by a sheet of Thread. He waited no longer.
Now maybe you can lay off of Wind Blossom?
Paul is excited, orders it recorded, and rushes to see. Meanwhile, we get Sean's point of view of the actual fight. It's going well! Yay! It's very exciting. Also very hard to recap. Take my word for it, or read it yourself. It's fun!
The queens run out of HNO3, so Sorka goes to get more. Fuck gender essentialism. Eventually the boys are out of firestone too. They're above Fort Hold by now, and everyone's exhausted. They've done what they can today.
We scene-shift to an excited Pierre telling a convalescent Emily what happened. She has him help her to the window so she can see herself.
Everyone's excited, there's lots of delighted swarming. Medics come to treat the injured dragons. It sounds like it's minor injuries only. And then Paul Benden shows up in full fleet admiral uniform, flanked by Ongola and Ezra.
It's the heroes' procession. We get some reaction shots from the people we remember:
In step, the dragonriders walked forward, past people grinning foolishly in their pride. Sean recognized many faces: Pol and Bay looking about to burst with pride; Telgar, tears streaming down his cheeks, Ozzie and Cobber on either side of him; Cherry Duff upheld by two sons, her black eyes gleaming with joy. He caught sight of the Hanrahans, Mairi holding up his small son to see the pageantry. There was no sign of Governor Emily Boll, and Sean felt his heart contract. What Peter Chernoff had said was true, then. This moment would not be the same without her.
...so where's Wind Blossom? Or are we still pretending she has nothing to do with this batch, despite Kitti having died before they even knew it worked?
Anyway, the chapter and the book ends with this:
“Admiral Benden, sir,” said Sean, rider of bronze Carenath,” may I present the Dragonriders of Pern?”
Aw.
And holy shit. I need to think of a replacement. The verdict is coming soon!
Oh shit. We're apparently on the last chapter!
So we start out with some awful news. Emily's been in some kind of sled accident. She's got mutliple fractures, and apparently the prognosis isn't great. Paul, for some reason, has decided that they (meaning him, Ongola, Ezra Keroon and Joel Lilienkamp) keep quiet about her condition.
To Fort Hold, she's resting comfortably. For "outside inquiries", she's busy.
The fuck? Why? What's the deal with the secrecy here? Is it a morale thing, because dudes, you're on a death world. People are going to fucking die at some point.
This glimpse at Paul's surroundings gives a decent idea of what's going on:
Abruptly Paul pushed himself to his feet and began to pace his new office, the first apartment on the level above the Great Hall. Its windows gave an unimpeded view of the ordered rows of cargo and supplies that filled that end of the valley. Eventually all those goods would be stored in the vast subterranean caverns of Fort. So much had to be done, and he sorely missed Emily’s supportive presence.
He caught himself fingering the prosthetic fingers and jammed both hands into his pockets. His position had required him to contain his distress in order to avoid alarming people already under considerable tension. But before his close and trusted friends, he could give vent to the anxieties that they all shared.
...okay, I get the stiff upper lip part. But why not just admit the woman was injured? We get a bit more information about what happened:
The disastrous failure of the big sled’s gyros and its subsequent crash had been visible to the inhabitants of Fort Hold, but few had known that the governor had been a passenger that night. They could be honest about the severity of the pilot’s injuries, for he would recover easily from two broken arms and numerous lacerations. None of the other passengers had been severely hurt, and those who rescued the injured had not recognized Emily, her face bloodied by the head wound. At least until she was convalescing, Paul would not allow the facts to be common knowledge. Following so closely after the exodus from Landing, that crash, with the loss of some irreplaceable medical supplies as well as the sled itself, had to be minimized to sustain morale.
I'm still utterly lost here. I get that morale is important, but Emily's not really one of those central messianic leader types. I don't think anyone is assuming she's immortal. And what will you do if she does die?
Emily's husband is aware of the situation, at least, even insists on the secrecy because it's what Emily would want. I'm still boggled. Ongola asks how long they can expect to keep this secret, which seems like a reasonable question to me, but Paul gets upset:
“As long as we have to, dammit, Ongola! We can at least spare people one more worry, especially when we haven’t got a positive prognosis.” Paul drew in a deep breath. “The head wound wasn’t serious — no skull fracture — but it was a while before she was removed from the sled. The trauma wasn’t treated quickly enough, and we don’t have the sophisticated equipment to relieve the shock of multiple fracture. She must be given time and rest. Fulmar — ” Paul swung to the engineer. “There will be a transport sled ready to go south today, won’t there? I can’t keep stalling Desi.”
Apparently an engineer, Fulmar, is here too. He's taking this very hard. His team was on maintenance from the sound of it, and are exhausted and overworked. Paul blames himself for urging Emily to come north. Apparently the cargo wasn't secured properly. Just a mess of unfortunate circumstance at fault.
A part of me is genuinely surprised that McCaffrey didn't find a way to make it sabotage or incompetence, but I guess with Bitra, Nabol, and Ted dead, she didn't have anyone to demonize.
Sorry, that's not fair. I criticize McCaffrey enough for the things she actually writes. I shouldn't cast aspersions.
Anyway, Paul notes that they evacuated Landing, prepared a place, and now they have to mobilize enough personnel and machines to fight Thread. He doesn't hope for support from dragonets or dragons anymore.
I like how Wind Blossom was scorned for pointing out that the dragons were not a guaranteed fix, but she was actually right. For now.
This leads to a scene transition: Sorka is furious at Sean for the risks. He grabs her arms "obscurely irritated by her reaction". Hey, dude, fuck off. Don't start turning into Dragonflight F'lar now. She's got a right to be mad. So help me, McCaffrey, if you ruin them....
Carenath has apparently been telling all the dragons about his feat, and Sean thinks that he understands why Marco panicked. It's "total sensory deprivation". Carenath just calls it "between".
Oh, interesting. Did CARENATH name the concept of "Between"? I kind of like that. A lot.
More fodder for the "does Sorka hear all dragons" question:
They are in sight now, Carenath said just as Sorka replied, “Faranth says they’re in sight now.” She pointed northeast. “Polenth says that they hunted well. Meat!” Sorka gave a brief smile, and Sean decided that she was halfway to forgiving him.
I take that to mean she heard from Polenth directly. Though I suppose that it could be read ambiguously. The wiki entry backs me up though.
So Sean wants to test it. They're going to teleport to Kahrain Cove. They're NOT going to tell anyone in charge yet. Emily's gone to join the admiral after all (obviously they don't know about the accident), while Pol and Bay haven't returned yet. Sean wants to spring the finished product on them at once.
The dragons aren't breathing flame yet, but Sean's not worried. There's phosphine-bearing rock along the coasts. They've seen fire lizards chew it. It's the easiest part of the endeavor, per Sean. Sean is pretty good at pep talks, noting that Duluth had caught Marco off guard, and Marco panicked. But they're ready. They'll plan evasive tactics and practice "skipping" forward, essentially using Between to dodge thread. The fire lizards do it, after all.
We switch back to Paul. Oh, hey, check this bit out:
“Obviously, Paul told the worried pilots, “we’re not going to be able to protect as much land with such a depleted aerial coverage.”
“Damn it, Admiral,” Drake Bonneau said, twisting his face into a frown. “We were supposed to have enough power packs to last fifty years!”
“We did.” Joel Lilienkamp jumped to his feet once again. “Under normal usage. They have not had what anyone could possibly term normal usage, or even normal maintenance. And don’t blame Fulmar Stone and his crew. I don’t think they’ve had a full night’s sleep in months. The best mechanics in the world can’t make sleds operate on half-charged or badly charged packs.” Glaring belligerently around him, he sat down hard, and the chair rocked on the stone floor.
Are we having a problem with fuel, gentlemen? Gosh, who could have imagined? (Fuck Kenjo.)
Oh, check out this bullshit:
“The dragons are not yet a year old,” Paul said. “According to Wind Blossom” — he noted the subtly disapproving reaction to her name — “Pol, and Bay, the dragons will not be mature enough to be fully . . . operational . . . for another two or three months.”
This woman basically single-handedly kept her grandmother's project growing. What have YOU done, aside from scapegoat a scientist and fuck a subordinate, you asshole?
The people are scared and impatient, which is understandable. Unfortunately, waiting for something to mature takes time. He also wants to reassign Wind Blossom's staff. They don't have time, personnel or resources for further experimentation.
That's gratitude for you. I hope we don't end up with dragon plagues and the like needing cures in a few generations or anything.
...this doesn't make sense to me. Jim Keroon's convoy hit a storm that capsized nine craft. They've recovered all but two. But they may have lost some goods.
Paul regarded Ongola stolidly. “Does he have any idea how long that’s going to hold him up?” Ongola shook his head. “All the more reason, then, to reassign Wind Blossom’s personnel,” Paul said then. “When that’s done, I’ll have a word with Jim. It’s incredible that he’s got such an ill-assorted flotilla as far as he has! Through fog, Fall, and storm!”
...what does a bio-engineering staff have to do with this? I'm utterly perplexed. I guess they're going to be searching for lost material in the ocean?
Who knows, we're switching back to characters I like better. Carenath is chewing fire stone. Woo. Everyone's been figuring out the teleportation thing. Otto Hegelman suggests they keep a log, noting down reference points for everyone. They ended up requesting writing materials from Malay River's Stake. There are only children there, with a sixteen year old in charge.
“Everyone’s out fighting Thread, you know,” she said, cocking her head at them in what Tarrie later said was pure insolence.
“Desi gave us supplies for you,” Sean replied, stifling his resentment of her implied criticism and the current menial status of dragonriders. He gestured for Jerry and Otto to bring the cargo net into the house. “Would you have any notebooks we could have?”
Dude, don't get into a bitch fight with a teenager. For one, it's silly. For two, you won't win.
For whatever reason, the excuse that they're doing a coastline survey makes the girl less antagonistic. She points them to the schoolroom, wondering who has time for lessons these days. That's actually really sad, in my opinion.
The dragonriders seem to agree, as this reinforces their determination to accomplish their journey.
Interestingly, it looks like the Queen riders are giving their dragons firestone too. I thought that was supposed to sterilize the dragons, which is why only green riders chew firestone. Are the future folk wrong again?
Dave's Polenth is the first to burp up some fire. Then Carenath, and the others. So now, they can figure this out! Though it apparently smells awful. The male dragons produced flame but none of the females. Aw.
Wait a second. Are there NO green dragons yet? I don't remember them mentioned. Or Blue for that matter. Watch, the "lesser colors" will turn out to be some other way poor Wind Blossom doesn't measure up to her grandmother.
Apparently it may be as simple as the queens not being mature enough. Apparently, per the program, the males mature faster. Oh, hey, check this out:
“I was just thinking. Kit Ping was such a traditionalist . . .” Sorka regarded her husband for a long moment, until he ducked his head, unable to maintain the eye contact. “All right, Sean, you know every symbol in that program. Did Kit Ping introduce a gender discrimination?”
“A what?” Tarrie asked. The other queen riders gathered close, while the young men took discreet backward steps.
“A gender inhibition . . . meaning the queens lay eggs, and the other colors fight!” Sorka was disgusted.
I'm with you, Sorka. That's bullshit. Why would they have let the woman weaken half of their fighting force? Laying eggs is great, but they don't lay eggs every single season. But now I'm wondering if the greens will be a deliberate counter to that.
Sean tries to placate Sorka, reminding her that it might just be that the queens aren't mature enough. He also points out that the women can still fly with flame throwers. Which we know they'll do. So why NOT let them chew firestone when gold fire lizards can???
I do appreciate how the gender differences are part of the narrative now. I wonder if McCaffrey always had Kitti Ping's biases in mind as a reason, or if she had to come up with that excuse after the fact.
Back to Paul. Telgar is still pretty great, even if he did name himself after his rapist wife. Though this ALSO seems like an excuse to shit on Wind Blossom more:
“Actually, Paul,” Telgar said, glancing at Ozzie and Cobber, “those photophobes of Wind Blossom’s have proved to be extremely useful in subterranean explorations. Their instinct for hidden dangers — pitfalls in fact, and blind tunnels — is infallible.” The geologist gave one of his humorless smiles. “I’d like to keep them now that Wind Blossom has abandoned them, so to speak.” Telgar turned to Pol and Bay.
“It’s a relief to know they’ve some use,” Pol said sighing heavily. Both he and his wife had tried to reason with the indignant Wind Blossom when she had been requested to suspend the dragon program. Though she maintained that the emergency transfer from Landing to Fort had damaged many of the eggs in the clutch she had manipulated, Pol and Bay had seen the autopsy reports and knew that claim to be spurious. They had been lucky to hatch six live creatures.
Seriously, McCaffrey, this is starting to sound like a personal thing. What female Asian scientist peed in your cornflakes?
Anyway, Paul doesn't want uncontrolled breeding. Telgar and someone named Ozzie will agree to that. They do make sure to point out the watch whers' good traits: strong, able to eat anything.
Oh hey, Bay actually manages to be sensitive for one:
Paul continued to nod agreement. “I just want any further propagation cleared with Pol and Bay for the biology department.”
“We’re delighted, I assure you,” Bay said. “I didn’t approve of them, but I also cannot approve summary termination of any living creature which can be useful.”
Telgar rose abruptly, and Bay, wondering if her words had reminded him of Sallah’s death, mentally chastised herself for not thinking before she spoke. Ozzie and Cobber sprang to their feet as well.
This is the lady who blamed Wind Blossom for grieving her own grandmother. You can't convince me that she's sensitive now.
After Telgar leaves, Bay remarks on how he's changed. Well, being raped nightly by his wife for eight years without anyone knowing will probably do that. Bonding with his rapist and then her death would do it too. Also, you turned out to be a bitch over the last few years, so can you really talk?
Paul just notes that they've all changed. But he also wants to know if there's anything to be done about "Wind Blossom's intransigence".
What. The. Fuck.???
God forbid the woman be annoyed at her (perceived) unfair treatment. But apparently she's a misandrist or some nonsense:
“Tom Patrick says Wind Blossom chooses to distrust the male half of this leadership.” Paul grinned. Actually he did find the situation ludicrous, but since Wind Blossom had immured herself in her quarters until she “had a fair hearing,” he had grasped the opportunity to transfer personnel to more productive employment. Most of which had been grateful. You will, of course, continue to monitor the new dragon hatchlings.”
I'm not even saying that Paul is wrong to lay down some rules, per se. But the woman's allowed to have a complaint about it. And she's allowed to want a fair hearing. And given that Paul is the one who banged a subordinate, discarded her, demonized her, and forgave a male colleague for a far worse transgression (until Bitra's final strike anyway)...I think this might be a case of the misogynist calling the misandrist black. Just saying.
Update on the grubs: they're ready for a ground test. No mention of the sad fate of their creator or anything. Fucking assholes.
Oh, spoke too soon:
If they were extremely careful to use sleds and skimmers on only the most critical errands, they might just last out Pern’s current pass through the Oort cloud matter. But when it came around again, what would they do? Paul winced as he remembered the arrogance of Ted Tubberman in preempting the dispatch of the homing device. Had the man known how to activate it properly? Ironic, that! Would it be received? Acted upon? With the help of the technological society they had foresworn, his descendants could survive. Did he want them to? Had they any other choice? With adequate technology, the problem of Thread could possibly be solved. So far, ingenuity and natural resources had failed miserably.
Asking for help is arrogant now? Fuck you, Paul Benden.
Back to the dragon riders. They've made it to Seminole. Peter Chernoff (brother of dragonrider Tarrie) wants to know where they've been, which boggles the riders as they've been reporting into Fort everyday. But everyone's under stress: Fort Hold will face threadfall, without much by way of defense. And the news about Emily being injured has apparently leaked.
They have the HNO3 though. And some newly ready dragonriders. So Sean seizes the opportunity. They're going to fight Thread. Woo hoo! Awesome entrance time!
Or at least, awesome exit, as they prepare and go, to a disbelieving Peter's shock. And Woo:
“Whenever they started, sir, they’re already here.” Paul wondered if disappointment had got the better of his imperturbable second in command, for he could swear the man was laughing. “The seaport asks should they join the aerial defense of the harbor? And, Admiral sir, I’ve got it on visuals! Our dragons are fighting Thread! I’ll patch it in to your screen.”
Paul watched as the picture cleared and the focus lengthened to show him the unbelievable vision of tiny flying creatures, undeniably spouting flame from their mouths at the silver rain that fell in a dreadful curtain over the harbor. He had that one view before the picture was interrupted by a sheet of Thread. He waited no longer.
Now maybe you can lay off of Wind Blossom?
Paul is excited, orders it recorded, and rushes to see. Meanwhile, we get Sean's point of view of the actual fight. It's going well! Yay! It's very exciting. Also very hard to recap. Take my word for it, or read it yourself. It's fun!
The queens run out of HNO3, so Sorka goes to get more. Fuck gender essentialism. Eventually the boys are out of firestone too. They're above Fort Hold by now, and everyone's exhausted. They've done what they can today.
We scene-shift to an excited Pierre telling a convalescent Emily what happened. She has him help her to the window so she can see herself.
Everyone's excited, there's lots of delighted swarming. Medics come to treat the injured dragons. It sounds like it's minor injuries only. And then Paul Benden shows up in full fleet admiral uniform, flanked by Ongola and Ezra.
It's the heroes' procession. We get some reaction shots from the people we remember:
In step, the dragonriders walked forward, past people grinning foolishly in their pride. Sean recognized many faces: Pol and Bay looking about to burst with pride; Telgar, tears streaming down his cheeks, Ozzie and Cobber on either side of him; Cherry Duff upheld by two sons, her black eyes gleaming with joy. He caught sight of the Hanrahans, Mairi holding up his small son to see the pageantry. There was no sign of Governor Emily Boll, and Sean felt his heart contract. What Peter Chernoff had said was true, then. This moment would not be the same without her.
...so where's Wind Blossom? Or are we still pretending she has nothing to do with this batch, despite Kitti having died before they even knew it worked?
Anyway, the chapter and the book ends with this:
“Admiral Benden, sir,” said Sean, rider of bronze Carenath,” may I present the Dragonriders of Pern?”
Aw.
And holy shit. I need to think of a replacement. The verdict is coming soon!