Chronicles of Pern: Rescue Run

[kalinara]

So we made it to the last short story in the bunch. "Rescue Run". I know a bit about this one, though I'm not actually sure if I've read it before. I know it's from the point of view of people who are not actually Pern settlers though, so I find that interesting.

It's been hinted to me that this might put some of the Pern colonists reactions into perspective, so I'm looking forward to that.



So we start with a dude named Ross Vaclav Benden. I'm assuming that he's related to Paul "I fucked my subordinate and dumped her, but she's the real problem" Benden. I won't speculate too much because I imagine it'll come up. He's on a ship called the Amherst. Interestingly, the captain is a woman named Anise Fargoe. Which kind of seems like the kind of name you pull out of a hat, but I can't judge - I've picked sillier names.

It looks like they've picked up Ted's beacon! Though it also seems like they're not aware that there are any colonies out here. It also seems as though the Federation is still having conflict with "the Nasties" that they warred with six decades before.

So yeah, it does sound like it's been quite a lot of time since Ted set the beacon, which makes his exile seem even stupider when you think about it. Because what fucking difference did it make?

We do see the message:

MAYDAY! PERN COLONY IN DESPERATE CONDITION FOLLOWING REPEATED ATTACKS OF AN UNCONTACTED ENEMY INVASION FORCE EMPLOYING UNKNOWN ORGANISM



“Nasties don’t need germ warfare,” muttered brash Ensign Cahill Bralin Nev. Someone else snickered.



. . . WHICH CONSUMES ALL ORGANIC MATTER. MUST HAVE TECHNICAL AND NAVAL SUPPORT OR COLONY FACES TOTAL ANNIHILATION. THERE IS WEALTH HERE. SAVE OUR SOULS.

THEODORE TUBBERMAN, COLONY BOTANIST.

We're told the silence afterward is "almost embarrassed." The captain rules out the Nasties, theorizing that maybe an old weapon system had been triggered. She asks Benden to check the Library for the Pern exhibition. Ross does, but apparently he also knows the story by heart.

We confirm, by the way, that Ross is Paul's nephew. His family's proud of Paul, but Ross himself has some mixed feelings on account of getting some teasing as a cadet when a documentary of Paul's military victory came out, and when his strategies were discussed in Tactics class.

I mean, fair. Being related to a famous person must be weird.

The information is pretty sparse. They landed successfully and there was no expectation of further contact.

“Humph. Idealists, were they? Isolating themselves and then screaming for help at the slightest sign of trouble.”

Ross Benden gritted his teeth, searching for some polite way to assert that Admiral Benden would not have “screamed for help” and bloody well hadn’t sent that craven message.

And here we go. Enter the McCaffreyisms.

It'd be one thing if the point of the story is that the Federation are assholes who would have been terrible to any former colony member who asked for help and that's why no one would want to ask for help. And I think that'd be a valid interpretation of Fargoe's idea.

But Ross, who is clearly our sympathetic viewpoint character, isn't annoyed at Fargoe. He's not even annoyed at the idea that the colonists bit off more than they can chew. He's decided immediately that the colonist who sent the message was "craven" and could never have been his uncle.

And of course he's right, because that's the rule in McCaffrey land. The heroes always immediately understand who is right and who is wrong in any given situation. There is rarely any real possibility of misunderstanding. Everyone was right about Bitra. Everyone was right about Ted. If the heroes have a bad feeling about someone, nine times out of ten, it's completely correct. Robinton never wonders for a moment if Pona's accusations about Menolly have any merit.

And so on and so forth.

McCaffrey's heroes must love Pern immediately. Only assholes want to leave. And everyone immediately recognizes these assholes for the cowards they are. How dare they not want to live in the death rain.

Fortunately, after a moment’s thought, the captain went on. “Not Admiral Benden’s style to send a distress message of any kind. So, who’s this Theodore Tubberman, Botanist, who affixed his name to the plea? A Mayday should have been authorized by the colony leaders.”

See? FORTUNATELY. FORTUNATELY, Fargoe immediately knows the sainted Paul Benden couldn't have sent this. (He never had to make a strategic retreat or call for reinforcements during the wars? Really?)

Apparently the beacon was sent forty-nine years ago. Oof. Well. Okay then. It was also expertly contrapted. Go Ted. (I'm sure McCaffrey will intend that Joel or someone actually made it.) And it was sent to Federation Headquarters instead of the Fleet or Colonial Authority.

I am pretty interested in the bureaucratic discussion of why the beacon was ignored. But anyway, we get more aggrandizement.

The captain tapped her fingers on her armrest. “Doesn’t compute that Paul Benden would send any distress message,” she went on. “So where was he when this Tubberman sent off his contraption? Had the menace from outer space done for everyone in authority?”

This isn't the praise McCaffrey thinks it is. They're willing to entertain the idea that aliens killed off everyone in command over the idea that Benden might have asked for help??

I do like this reaction though, which feels more realistic:

“Coming on a bit thick, weren’t they? Alien invasion!” Ni Morgana gave a snort of disgust after a quick perusal. “Although . . .” She paused, pursing her mouth. “It’s just possible that the ‘unknown organism’ has been seeded into the cometary cloud to camouflage it.”

I don't mind the skepticism per se. I just hate the psychic knowledge of Benden=good, Ted=bad.

Morgana wants to take samples of the Oort Cloud. They theorize about possible engineered organisms or natural viruses. I'm reminded again of that theory that Thread might be the larval form of some planet eating species in Acorna. I like that idea. I've never read those books though.

They contemplate the idea that it could still be Nasties.

Ah, here's actually something useful:

“Whatever the attack on Pern was, they would not have sent for help unless their situation was desperate,” Ni Morgana added. “You are aware that the Colonial Authority exacts punitive payments for such assistance?”

See, now THIS would have been useful information in Dragonsdawn. I'd still side with Ted Tubberman, I think, because I think folk shouldn't be forced to risk death because other people want to avoid fines. But it's at least it's an actual dis-incentive toward asking for help. I could definitely understand the poorer colonists not wanting to risk it even if they did want off. But no one brought this up. They just acted like Ted was an unreasonable coward for wanting them to not be killed by evil space rain.

Fargoe would like to talk to Benden. Ross notes that Benden is probably not alive, seeing as how he was in his seventies when he "started". The captain suggests a "good colonial life can add decades to a man's span" which makes no fucking sense, given that they've been established to be a low tech colony.

Also, in the real world, people's age spans don't change as much as you think. The life expectancy during medieval times was forty, NOT because people died of old age then, but because KIDS kept dying. If someone made it to adulthood and beyond without contracting disease or injury, they could well make it into their seventies or eighties like many of us would.

I think there's some room to theories more people might hold on longer, thanks to advancements we're not aware of that could be as much of a game changer as sanitation, hygiene and the understanding of bacteria - there are a few people who have lived to crazy ages now. Jeanne Calvert is on record as having the oldest recorded lifespan at 122 years. I can buy that eventually being more common, I suppose. So I GUESS, Paul could still be alive. But this is a lower tech world, not a higher one.

So they make a plan to do a rescue run. They'll mimic the original EEC survey team and take five days on the surface to make contact and establish the current situation.

It's worth noting here that there's no talk of forcibly relocating anyone. It's just to find out what's going on. This seems to prove everyone was a dick to Ted for no fucking reason.

There's also a weird note about a Lieutenant Zane shooting Ross a "malevolent glance". Okay.

So we get some info about the Oort Cloud and the attempts to study it. Long and the short of it is that Morgana does find "some very unusual particles" that she's never seen before. But she doesn't find "evidence of any artifact".

She's not sure if it's a lifeform. It's got a very slow response time. But there are anomalies to follow up on. And the Captain warns her about "the Roma", a ship that was destroyed when a science officer brought a metal hungry organism aboard.

Later, discovery!

The following week Ni Morgana was almost jubilant. “Captain, there is a real life-form in some of the larger chunks from the cloud. Ovoid shapes, with an exceedingly hard crust of material, they have some liquid, perhaps helium, inside. They’re very strange, but I’m sure they’re not artifacts. I’m bringing one sample up above zero degrees Celsius this week.”

The captain held up an admonishing finger at her science officer. “Remember the Roma,” she said again.

“Ma’am, even the situation on the Roma didn’t happen in a day.”

In the process of leaving the conference room, the captain stopped and stared quizzically at Ni Morgana. “Are you deliberately misquoting something, Lieutenant?”

Okay, McCaffrey, that was funny. I admit it.

We jump ahead for a bit, Ross is summoned and introduced to Thread!

“Funkit, what in the name of the holies is that?” he breathed as his eyes fell on the writhing grayish pink and puke-yellow mass that oozed and roiled on the monitor screen. The mass was, in reality, ten kilometers from the Amherst, but he could understand why everyone was standing well back.

“If that is what fell on Pern,” Ni Morgana said, “I don’t blame ’em for shrieking for help!”

Whoa, actual sympathy? I may have to rescind some criticism.

As they watch, the Thread ends up melting into a puddle. They theorize that it starved to death. They don't yet know for sure if it's the Pernese Organism, but they're definitely open to the possibility and a lot more understanding about the colonists' beacon.

Ross does some studying. He dwells on the mystery of why "the colony botonist" sent the message and not the leadership. The leadership are assholes. Next question?

He's also going to be on the landing party. Good for him!

He also gets a newbie "Ensign Nev" as his junior officer. He is unhappy but accepts it, he asks for a Sergeant Greene to command the marines going with them.

Oh, implicit romance!

Ross Benden was delighted to be teamed up with the elegant science officer. She was his senior in years but not in Fleet, for she had done her scientific training before applying to the Service. She was also the only woman on board who kept her hair long, though it was generally dressed in intricate arrangements of braids. The effect was somehow regal and very feminine—an effect at variance with her expertise in the various forms of contact sport that were enjoyed in the Amherst’s gym complex. If she had made any liaisons on board, they were not general knowledge; he’d overheard speculation about her tastes, but no boasting or claims of personal experience. He had always found her agreeable company and a competent officer, though they hadn’t shared more than a watch or two until now.

Well then.

Oh, hey, Zane is definitely our Ted.

“Did you see the tape of that thing?” Ross heard the nasal voice of Lieutenant Zane saying later as he passed the wardroom. “There’ll be no one left alive down there. Ni Morgana has proved the Oort cloud generated that life-form, so it wasn’t Nastie manufacture. There’s no rationale for taking a chance and landing on that planet if any of those things are alive down there! And they could be, with an entire planet to eat up.”

Benden paused to listen, knowing perfectly well that, despite the dangers involved, Zane would have given a kidney to be in the landing party. Nev was, at least, an improvement on the sour and supercilious Zane. And when the navigation officer added some invidious remarks that Benden had been chosen only because of his relationship to one of the leaders of the colony, Ross passed quickly down the corridor before his temper got the better of his discretion.

Well, I suppose it remains to be seen if Zane is a Tolocamp (monstrous asshole), a Ted (inexplicably unlikeable but also right), or a Jeran from the Tower series (...honestly, I've never been sure what McCaffrey had against this dude. He was a bit uptight but never seemed to deserve the scorn directed his way...)

Anyway, they brief the crew and head down. Nev still thinks this is the nasties, though Morgana thinks the Nasties are more direct. Nev also doesn't want to stick round if the place is swarming, but Ni Morgana wants to examine any samples.

They end up trying to contact the Yokohama, but get nothing. And oh, interesting. They find ANOTHER beacon farther south.

South?

We get some nice travelogue description as they start over the north pole and observe a bitterly cold winter. They detect no power, heat or light in places where humans usually settle: river valleys, plains, shoreline. There's no indicator that they've scanned the caves of course.

They theorize that, given "the usual multiplication" of colonies, there should be about five hundred thousand people. Gosh, that doesn't seem like a lot of population diversity, actually.

They decide to do another low-level pass if they have time, since the settlers were determined to be agrarian but might use fossil fuels.

LOTS of marine life, which again makes me wonder about the effects eliminating Thread will have on them. But I guess if they survived the long Intervals, they're probably ok.

They consider looking for dolphins, and this is a little weird:

“There’s another consideration: How long do dolphins live?” Ross asked. “Remember, this trouble started when the colony was down eight to nine years. In your report, Lieutenant, you did mention that further tests with the organism proved that water drowned it and organic fire consumed it. Mentasynth-enhanced creatures have good memories, sure. But how many generations of dolphins have there been? Would they even be aware of what happened on land? Much less remember?”

“Would they want to, is more the case,” Saraidh said. “They’re independent and very intelligent. I imagine they’d cut their losses and survive on their own. I would, if I were a dolphin.”

Then Saraidh started the recorders on the gig’s delta wing, to take a record of the plunging antics of the large marine life as the Erica swooped over the ocean on its final descent toward the site of record.

“Records state that the Bahrain brought fifteen female dolphins and nine males,” Nev said suddenly. “Dolphins produce—what? Once a year. There could be nearly eight hundred of ’em in the seas right now. That’s a lot of terrestrial life-forms we’d be abandoning.”

That's actually a really good point. Has anyone asked the dolphins what THEY think about staying or going? But also, again, it doesn't seem like they'd have brought enough of the species for long term population diversity.

The dolphins definitely seem to be trying to get their attention, but Ni Morgana wants to look for humans first.

Oh, hey. Oops:

“Muhlah!” was Saraidh’s awed comment as they saw the two ruined volcanic craters and the smoking cone of the third.

Ross could say nothing, appalled by the extent of the eruption. He had never expected anything as catastrophic as this. Or had this devastation occurred after the organism had begun to fall? While he had more or less resigned himself to the idea that he was unlikely to encounter his uncle, he had hoped to chat with the admiral’s descendants. He certainly hadn’t anticipated this level of devastation. They flew over the landing-field tower, its beacon now blinking, activated by the proximity of the gig.

(Saraidh, by the way, is Ni Morgana's first name)

Ah, I can see where misunderstandings are doomed to happen. They consider shuttles. There should be six, but only three are parked. Nev suggests they were used to get out, but where? There are no signs of human habitation in the North.

Hey, guys. Guys? You've pretty much determined that Thread is the monster Ted reported. You know it falls from the sky and eats organic matter. Why AREN'T you looking for caves?

They do find evacuated settlements though and they're smart enough to realize that they are intentionally evacuated with everything being emptied.

Oh...

Airborne again in the Erica, heading directly toward the beacon, they overpassed the rest of the settlement, taping the one smoking volcano crater and the melted structures below it. No sooner were they over the river than the landscape showed another form of devastation. The prevailing winds had minimized the dispersal of volcanic dust, but oddly enough, there were only occasional stands of vegetation and large circles of parched soil.

“Like something had sprinkled the land with whopping great acid drops,” Cahill Nev said, awed at the extent of the markings.

So Ted's grubs will do good in the future. Though it does raise the question: why was the South in such good shape when the colonists arrived. Threadfall isn't new, and the long Intervals are specifically because of the AIVAS missions. So in the past, there'd have been long waves of Threadfall, then periods of inactivity when the Red Star went back to the Oort Cloud, right? How did it regenerate without the grubs before?

Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this. Especially because I have no useful biological or botanical knowledge.

Oh wow, though. There ARE some people here! They spot windows in the cliffside!

By the time the Erica had settled to the smoothed surface, a file of people were running down the plateau toward it; their cries, piped in via the exterior sensors, were of hysterical welcome. They ranged in age from early twenties to late forties—except for one white-haired man, his mane trimmed to shoulder length, whose lined face and slow movements suggested a person well into his eighth or ninth decade. His emergence halted the demonstrations, and the others stood aside to allow him a clear passage to the gig’s portal, where he halted.

OH. It's Stev Kimmer. Evil Stev Kimmer. He claims credit for designing the capsule and...oh here we go.

“You did well,” Benden replied. Inexplicably, he suddenly did not care to identify himself. So he introduced Saraidh ni Morgana and Ensign Nev. “But why did you send that capsule to Federation headquarters, Kimmer?”

“That wasn’t my idea. Ted Tubberman insisted.” Kimmer shrugged. “He paid me for my work, not my advice. As it is, you’ve taken nearly too damned long to get here.” He scowled with irritation.

See, Ross psychically knows Stev is a bad guy. Even though, if you think about it, Stev's really done NOTHING to warrant it. He was Avril's crony, sure. But he wasn't involved with her heist. He didn't hurt a single person, that we know about. He helped Ted, but stayed out of shit. And apparently, he kept these people alive for fifty years.

But yep, magically, the guy we like knows he's The Worst.

And oh, wow. It sounds like Stev's out of the loop:

“No one came back to Landing, then?” Kimmer demanded. Benden thought his habit of interrupting Fleet officers could become irritating. “With Thread gone, that’d be the place they’d return to. The ground-to-ship interface’s there.”

“The interface is inoperative,” Benden said, careful not to betray his annoyance at the old man’s arrogance.

“Then the others are dead,” Kimmer stated flatly. “Thread got ’em all!”

...is Stev lying? Or did they genuinely just leave him there and not tell him they were going north? What the fuck?

(Not that I can blame him for lying, because while I don't remember him being explicitly punished, he does seem to have been shunned and left behind to die...)

“Yes, Thread.” Kimmer’s palpable anger was tinged with deep primal emotions, not the least of which was a healthy fear. “That’s what they named the organism that attacked the planet. Because it fell from the skies like a rain of deadly thread, consuming all it touched, animal, man, and vegetable. We burned it out of the skies, on the ground, day after fucking day. And still it came. We’re all that’s left. Eleven of us, and we only survived because we have a mountain above us and we hoarded our supplies, waiting for help to come.”

“Are you positive that you’re the sole survivors?” Ni Morgana asked. “Surely the colony grew in the eight or nine years you had before this menace attacked you.”

“Before Thread fell, the population was close to twenty thousand, but we’re all that’s left,” Kimmer said. “And you cut it mighty fine getting here. I couldn’t risk another generation with such a small gene pool.” Then one of the women, who bore a strong resemblance to Kimmer, tugged at his arm. He made a grimace that could be taken for a smile. “My daughter reminds me that this is a poor welcome for our long-awaited rescuers. Come this way. I’ve something laid by in the hope of this day.”

Eleven. Wow. This poor guy.

I realize that I'm supposed to think he's obnoxious. But Benden's whole bullshit about Stev interrupting fleet officers is far more annoying. Stev survived here with apparently eleven people. Considering how young many seem to be, he had to have spent a lot of time alone (or, well, with a very small group of people. One would have had to be a woman.) He's finally getting rescued and I'm glad for it.

We get to see the group:

he silence that had held Kimmer’s small group while he had addressed the spacemen relaxed into gestures and smiles of welcome. But Benden took note of the tension evident in the oldest three men. They stood just that much apart from the women and youngsters to suggest they had distanced themselves deliberately. Their faces had a distinctly Asian cast; jet-black hair was trimmed neatly to their earlobes; they were lean and looked physically fit. The oldest woman, who bore a strong resemblance to the three men, walked just a step behind Kimmer in a manner that suggested subservience: an attitude Benden found distasteful as he and his party followed them to the entrance.

The three younger women had mixed-ethnic features, one had brown hair. All were slender and graceful as they tried to contain their excitement. They whispered to each other, casting glances back at Greene and the other marine. At a brusque order from Kimmer, they ran on ahead, into the cliff. The three youngest, two boys and a girl, showed the mixing of ethnic groups the most. Benden wondered just how close the blood bonding was. Kimmer would not have been fool enough to sire children on his own daughters . . . would he?

Okay, wait a second. No. McCaffrey, you do NOT get to present an apparent gender inequality of this set up as a reason to hate Stev when you've already started making the dragonriders a male dominated free for all based on who fucks the queen. WHY can't the women lead directly again? WHY is Torene subordinate to M'hall?

And wait, how is the more mixed ethnic group indicative of incest? Wouldn't LESS ethnic mixing imply incest instead?

I mean, it's not a huge leap based on Stev's line about not being able to risk having another generation. But that also seems to imply that Stev is aware of the issues of genetic mixing, so direct incest seems less likely.

Oh, hey, this place actually seems pretty swanky:

Exclamations of surprise were forced from each of the officers as they entered a spacious room with a high, vaulted ceiling—a room nearly as big as the gig’s on-ship hangar. Nev gawked like any off-world stupe, while Ni Morgana’s expression was of delighted appreciation. Clearly the main living space of the cliff dwelling, the room had been broken up into distinct areas for work, study, dining, and handcrafts. The furnishings were made of a variety of materials, including extruded plastic in bright hard colors. The walls were well hung with curious animal furs and hand-loomed rugs of unusual design. Above those and all along the upper wall space, a vivid panorama had been drawn: the first scene was of stylized figures standing or sitting before what were clearly monitors and keyboards; other panels showed figures plowing and planting fields, or tending animals of all sorts; the illustrations led around to the innermost wall, which was decorated by scenes Benden knew all too well, the cities of Earth and Altair, and three spaceships with unfamiliar constellations behind them. At the apex of the ceiling vault was the Rukbat system, and one planet that was shown to have a highly elliptical, and possibly an erratic, orbit from slightly beyond the Oort cloud to an aphelion below Pern’s.

And like Ted, Stev has given them some very useful information he will never be credited for:

Ni Morgana nudged Benden in the ribs and spoke in a barely audible whisper. “Unlikely as it seems, I’ve just figured out one way the Oort organisms might have reached Pern. But I’ll be damned sure of my theory before I mention it.”

“The murals,” Kimmer was saying in a loud and proprietary voice, “were to remind us of our origins.”

I love how Kimmer being proprietary is presented as a bad thing, but from the sound of it, he's been keeping these people alive. He's clearly their leader. I'm not saying he's a good guy per se, but we're presenting him as a figure to dislike without any clear reasons why.

Oh. And there ARE genetic mixes. One of the Asian dudes identifies himself as Kenjo's kid. He has siblings here too. Why did they get left behind?! You fuckers wouldn't punish Kenjo, but you just abandoned these people here?!

It didn't sound like Stev actually knows anyone survived to go North. Did NO ONE try to contact any of these people?! You knew where Kenjo was living!

And here we go:

With a searing glance at Shensu, Kimmer hastily took the initiative again. “These are my daughters, Faith and Hope, Charity is setting out the, glasses.” Then, with a flick of his fingers, he indicated Shensu. “You may introduce my grandchildren.”

“Pompous old goat,” Ni Morgana muttered to Benden, but she smiled as the grandchildren were introduced as Meishun, Alun, and Pat, the two boys being in their mid-teens.

Hey, Saraidh. This guy's been in relative isolation for decades, you could be a little nicer. Also, there's no indication of incest. These are grandchildren, and from the name Meishun, it sounds like either Stev's partner or his kid's partner is Japanese.

And this is infuriating.

“This stake could have supported many more families if only those who had said they’d join us had kept their promises,” Kimmer went on bitterly. Then, with an imperious gesture, he waved the guests to the table and offered each a glass of rich, fruity red wine.

“Well come, men and woman of the Amherst!” Kimmer toasted, and he touched glasses with each of them.

Benden noticed, as Ni Morgana did, that the others were served a paler red by Meishun. Watered, Benden thought. They could at least be equal to us, today of all days! Shensu hid his resentment better than his two brothers did. The women seemed not to notice as they passed dishes of cheese bits and tasty small crackers to everyone. Then Kimmer gestured for the guests to be seated. Benden gave a discreet hand signal to the two marines, who took the end seats at the long table and remained watchful, taking only small sips of the celebratory wine.

How do you know this is about inequality?! You're making a lot of assumptions having just met this family. It's possible they're drinking watered wine because they don't trust you. OR maybe because you're guests and potential rescuers?!

Why not assume they're grateful to you instead?

And again, we get the psychic morality:

“The beginning,” Ross Benden said wryly, hoping that he might learn what had happened to his uncle before disclosing his identity. Something about Kimmer—not his anger or his autocratic manner, but something less obvious—made Benden instinctively distrust him. But perhaps a man who had managed to survive so long in a hostile environment had the right to a few peculiarities.

“Of the end?” And Kimmer’s spiteful expression served to increase Benden’s dislike.

What the fuck? Benden, as far as you know, these people think they're the only people alive on the planet. THERE ARE ELEVEN OF THEM. Let them be fucking spiteful!

And look at this:

“It was and our position was then hopeless, though few were realists enough to admit it, especially Benden and Boll.”

“Could you have gotten back up to the colony ships then?” Ni Morgana asked, nudging Ross Benden when she felt him stir angrily.

Hey, put your hero worship in your pants. You asked the guy for his story. Just because you magically know he's wrong (when he's actually not), doesn't mean you can be rude.

OH. INTERESTING.

“No way.” Kimmer snorted with disgust. “They used what fuel the gig had left to send Fusaiyuki up to reconnoiter. They thought they might be able to divert whatever it was that brought the Thread. That was before they realized that the wanderer planet had dragged in a tail that would shower this wretched planet with Thread for fifty frigging years. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they let Avril steal the gig, and that was the end of any chance we had of sending someone competent for help.” The recital of that forty-year-old memory agitated Kimmer, and his face became suffused with red.

“It was definitely established that the organism had been carried from the Oort cloud?” Ni Morgana asked, her usually calm voice edged with excitement.

Kimmer gave her a quelling glance. “In the end that was all they discovered despite their waste of fuel and manpower.”

So that probably was what Avril meant then. I didn't think they actually had enough info to figure that out, but I'm not too pressed about it. And I can't blame Kimmer for his bitterness. Again, he apparently thinks they're the last people alive.

Ni Morgana asks about the shuttles. Kimmer points out there was no fuel left. (Hey, thanks for that, Kenjo! And Boll and Benden for letting him keep the stuff!)

We do get more of Kimmer's story. He left after Avril's undoing. He set up a stake and decided to preserve his own skin. And this is apparently bad, because...I have no idea.

To be fair, it doesn't seem like he was deliberately exiled, like Ted. (WOULD they have saved Ted?) But the judgment annoys me. Especially this:

“And you settled here,” Ni Morgana asked blandly, “in the dwelling built by Kenjo and Ito Fusaiyuki.”

Her phrasing was, Benden thought, a little unfortunate, for the question angered Kimmer even more. The veins in his temples stood out, and his face contorted.

“Yes, I settled here when Ito begged me to stay. Kenjo was dead. Avril killed him to get the gig. Ito’d had a difficult birth with Chio, and his kids were too young to be useful then. So Ito asked me to take over.” Someone’s breath hissed on intake, and Kimmer glared at the three sons, unable to spot the culprit. “You’d all have died without me!” he said in a flat but somehow cautionary tone.

“Most assuredly,” Shensu said, his surface courtesy not quite masking a deep resentment.

I have no problem with there being issues between Shensu and Stev. But that's their business. The bland judgment about Stev moving into someone else's settlement, when the family is still here, is bizarre. He wouldn't be here if he wasn't asked to stay. They outnumber him!

Stev is adamant that there are no other survivors. He's also freaked out by the idea that they might be left there while the rescuers search. It's not rational, but we're dealing with ELEVEN people so they could give him a little sympathy. Jeeze.

It's also implied that Kenjo's kids know or suspect more than they'll say in front of Stev. And look at this:

Because Ross Benden was not looking at the old man just then but at the three brothers seated across the table, he caught the glitter in the eyes of Shensu and Jiro. He waited for them to speak up, but they remained silent and inscrutable. Clearly they had knowledge that they would not communicate to their rescuers in front of Stev Kimmer. Well, Benden would see them privately later. Meanwhile, Kimmer was coming across as a somewhat unreliable opportunist. He might assert that he had the right to set off and establish a stake when the colony was obviously in terrible straits, but to Benden, it sounded more as if Kimmer had fled cravenly. Was it just luck that he had known where to find Ito, and this Kenjo’s stake?

Cravenly. Again that word.

When you got here, in a part I didn't excerpt, you guys immediately identified Stev as the patriarch. He claims credit for saving these people and no one is gainsaying him. There are eleven and he's the oldest alive, it's not like they couldn't overthrow him if they damn well want. There is no reason to believe he isn't the leader he says he is, even if he's annoying.

Of course, I'm sure, they're going to be justified. But it's that psychic knowledge again.

And for all of Shensu's apparent dislike, it does sound like Stev actually raised them, with Ito. They've got every right to dislike their stepdad, but if he wanted to ditch them or betray them, he clearly could have.

Stev describes his attempts to make contact after the volcanos blew. It does sound like he went to a considerable extent to try to find people. He says the last message he heard was Benden telling people to conserve power, stay inside and let the Thread fall. Stev assumes it got him too.

And to their credit, while they note that Stev is rambling, confused and contradictory, it "has the ring of truth".

Stev tells us more: eight good years before Thread. His perspective of threadfall. And the survival stuff:

“Kenjo’d started ’ponics. Had some sense, that man, even with this fanatic thing he had about flying and being in the air. Space crazy he was. But I was better at contrapting the things you need to live. I taught this whole bunch everything I knew—not that they’re grateful to me.” His spiteful gaze rested on the three Fusaiyukis. “We saved horses, sheep, cattle, chickens before Thread could ooze all over ’em. I’d salvaged one of the old grass-makers they used the first year, before they’d planted Earth grass and that Altair hybrid got started.” He paused, narrowing his eyes. “Tubberman had another type of grass growing before they shunned him. I’d none of that seed, but enough to keep us going until we could plant out again. As long as I had power packs, I foraged and saved every scrap I could find. So we survived, and survived real good.”

I feel like Stev deserves some respect for this.

Shensu shares his own ventures out. After Thread stopped for three months, Kimmer sent them out to see if anyone was alive. They traveled for eight months and found no one.

Oh brother.

Benden had a stray thought: Kimmer had sent them out, not to search for survivors, but hoping they wouldn’t return.

...you have NO REASON to think that. From Kimmer's account, he and Ito were like the only adults here. (I'm not entirely sure where the daughters come from, or the grandchildren. We might have sibling incest going on. But I'm going to not think about it.) He basically raised these kids. He might have been a dick, we don't know. But there's no reason to think he wanted them dead.

And this also indicates something:

“We’re miners, too,” Shensu continued unexpectedly. Kimmer sat up, too enraged at the bland disclosure to form words. Shensu smiled at that reaction. “We have mined—ores and gemstones—as soon as we were strong enough to wield pick and shovel. All of us, my half sisters, and our children, too. Kimmer taught us how to cut gems. He insisted that we be rich enough to pay our way back to civilized worlds.”

“You fools! You utter fools! You shouldn’t have told them. They’ll kill us and take it all. All of it.”

“They are Fleet officers, Kimmer,” Shensu said, bowing politely to Benden, Ni Morgana, and the astonished Nev. “Like Admiral Benden.” His eyes slid and held Ross Benden’s briefly. “They would not be so basely motivated as to steal our fortunes and abandon us. Their orders are to rescue any survivors.”

This sounds like Kimmer's afraid for the group, not JUST himself. So how does that mesh with wanting the boys to die? (And yeah, it sounds like the boys married their half sisters, which...ew, but it doesn't sound like Kimmer fucked any of his own kids, Benden, so go fuck yourself.)

So anyway there's some back and forth. Eleven people will be too heavy for their shuttle, which boggles me because they were sent to look for survivors. They were expecting five hundred thousand. Not eleven. This seems to be just to distress Kimmer and let him babble frantically. And this is interesting:

“We do have orders to follow, but I assure you that if we find no other survivors to make your continued residence viable, you will either come with us on the Erica, or another means will be found to rescue you.”

“I appreciate your constraints and your devotion to duty,” Shensu said, his composure in marked contrast to Kimmer’s collapse. He made a slight bow from the hips. “However,” he went on, with the slightest of smiles, “my brothers and I have already searched all the old stakes without success. Will you not accept our investigations as conclusive?” His dignified entreaty was far harder to ignore than Kimmer’s blubbering.

1) It sounds like they still intend to let survivors remain, now that they know Thread is over (for now at least). So the colonists' resistance to activating the beacon seems cruel and stupid. Let the people who want to leave, leave. YOU would have been able to stay.

2) I really dislike how they treat Stev. Again, Stev is, as far as we know anyway, a jerk at worst. He raised the kids. Taught them to mine so they'd have something to pay their way if rescued. He had nothing to do with Avril's crimes. It doesn't sound like he intentionally abandoned anyone to die, Ross's speculation notwithstanding. He has done nothing wrong but be obnoxious!

And blubbering?! He's an old man who spent fifty years on a death planet thinking his family of eleven are the only people left alive!!! He is TRAUMATIZED, you fuckheads.

We do get some Kenjo aggrandizement here. He apparently did confirm the information about the Oort Cloud...which doesn't actually make sense now that I think about it. Because Avril had already murdered him when she made her statement. I guess maybe he didn't share the info with anyone but his wife?

And yet, Stev is the dickhead. (Sure, Avril ended up evil. But they all worried about Stev too.)

Anyway, they're happy to get the information about the Oort Cloud. There's still some indication that the older boys hero worship Kenjo and dislike stepdad Stev. But honestly, given how blatantly unsympathetic these guys are to Stev and the wild accusations they've come to on no basis (like fathering children on his daughters), I like the thought that the boys actually are being neutral here and the rescuers are projecting their own dislike onto them.

It is worth noting that Chio, who seems to be the last of Kenjo's kids, seems anxious and concerned for him. And while the men are described as picking up the now sleeping Stev as "much as they would a sack", Chio is following anxiously.

Ni Morgana is kind of a jerk here too:

“Will you guide me?”

“You?” Shensu was surprised.

“Lieutenant Ni Morgana is the science officer of the Amherst,” Benden put in firmly. “You will want to assist her in this investigation, Mr. Fusaiyuki.”

Shensu made a small gesture of obedience with his hands.

That kind of makes it sound like you're not giving him a choice, lady.

But okay, Ensign Nev is worried. He really doesn't want to leave these people behind if they can rescue them. Nev did the calculations and they can. And oh, harsh:

“We weren’t expected to find survivors, were we?” Nev asked tentatively.

Benden frowned at him. “What exactly do you mean by that, mister?”

“Well, Lieutenant, if Captain Fargoe had expected there’d be survivors, wouldn’t she have ordered a troop shuttle? They’d carry a couple of hundred people.”

Benden regarded Nev with exasperation. “You know our orders as well as I do: to discover the survivors and their present circumstances. Nothing was intimated that we wouldn’t find survivors. Or that we wouldn’t find them able to continue their colonial effort.”

Nev and I think alike. But also, again, I note that there is nothing here that indicates that the "rescuers" intended to force anyone off the planet. The shunning of Ted was pointless.

Nev points out that this lot can't. And while he doesn't trust "the old man", he thinks Shensu is okay. (Poor Stev. The narrative will always hate you. Seriously, McCaffrey, what dude named Steve pissed you off?)

Ross is also a real dick to Nev, telling him that if he wants Nev's opinion he'll ask for it. Jesus. And this is our hero. Living up to your name.

But that said, Ross also tells him to figure out how much they need to jettison to make this work. Nev is happy. And he does agree that while everyone expected that they'd either find that the colony had overcome the disaster or be destroyed by it, they can't just leave these guys behind.

The fuel is an issue...but dudes, couldn't you contact the ship and send down another shuttle?

Anyway, we get some annoying Benden shilling when Ross finds Ni Morgana and Shensu looking at maps.

“Lieutenant, we’ve got both the original survey maps here and those that the colonists filled in with detailed explorations,” Saraidh called to him. “A crying shame this endeavor was so brutally short-lived. They’d a lovely situation here. See—” Her scripto touched first one, then another of the shaded areas on the map of the southern continent. “Fertile farms producing everything they needed before disaster struck, a viable fishing industry, mines with on-site smelting and manufactory. And then—” She gave an eloquent shrug.

“Admiral Benden rose to the challenge magnificently,” Shensu said, the glow in his eyes altering his whole appearance, making him a far more likable person. “He called for centralization of all materials and skills. My father commanded the aerial defense. He had flamethrowers mounted on sleds, two forward and one aft, and developed flight patterns that would cover the largest area and destroy quantities of airborne Thread. Ground crews were organized with portable flamers to incinerate what did get through to the ground, before it could burrow and reproduce itself. It was a most valiant effort!”

There was an excitement and a ring in Shensu’s voice that made Benden’s pulse quicken; he could see that Saraidh was also affected. Shensu’s whole attitude was suffused with reverence and awe.

So yeah, Shensu had been very young and hero-worshipped Benden. He definitely doesn't like Stev. But again, given their ages, Stev would have genuinely been the one keeping them alive. Stev and their mom. (I presume Ito died, since. It also annoys me that Ito is not, to my knowledge, a female Japanese name.)

I do like this bit though:

“Any sort of residue would aid the research, Shensu,” she said, reaching out to touch his arm. “We need your help.”

“We needed yours a long time ago,” he said in a voice so bitter that Saraidh withdrew her hand, flushing.

“This expedition was mounted as soon as your message came up on the records, Shensu. The delay is not ours,” Benden replied crisply. “But we are here now, and we’d like your cooperation.”

This is a rare time when a character we're clearly supposed to like (Shensu, based on the comparison to Stev, the apparent dislike of Stev, and the worship of Benden Sr.) is resentful of characters we're supposed to like. That's almost nuance, McCaffrey.

And oh, interesting...

“If you did not have to strip the Erica to compensate for our weight?” Shensu seemed amused as he watched Benden’s reaction. “If you had, say, a full tank, could you allow us to bring enough valuables to assist us to resettle somewhere? Rescue to a pauper’s existence would be no rescue at all.”

Benden nodded in acknowledgment of that fact even as he spoke. “Kimmer said there was no more fuel. He was emphatic about it.”

Shensu leaned his body across the table and spoke in a scarcely audible whisper, his black eyes glittering with what Benden read as quiet satisfaction. “Kimmer doesn’t know everything, Lieutenant,” Shensu said with a chuckle, “he thinks he does.”

I remember in Dragonsdawn, the despair of not being able to find Kenjo's fuel. Kenjo's wife, supposedly, didn't know. Either she played things close to her vest, or Kenjo only told the kids. Well, I'm not going to begrudge them using it. THEY didn't steal it.

I'm still mad that the colonists gave Kenjo a pass though. AND OH. I RECOGNIZE THIS PLACE. The staircase they describe. This is the place that F'lessan discovers! It's in Skies of Pern, isn't it?! I actually LIKED Skies of Pern, wholeheartedly!

I still think Shensu could be a little more grateful to Stev. It's very possible that Ito kept things together and Stev was just a hanger-on, but he was still your mother's partner. He still taught you things. Now, he could still be an abusive asshole, but Shensu doesn't seem afraid or traumatized, just scornful in true McCaffrey protagonist style.

I like this bit:

“There’s more here than we need,” Saraidh said, having made some rough calculations. “More than enough. But—” She turned to Shensu, her expression stern. “I could understand your keeping this from Kimmer, but surely this was fuel those shuttles could have used? Or did they?” she added, noticing that some of the closer ranks were thinner where sacks had obviously been removed.

Shensu held up his hand. “My father was an honorable man. And when the need arose, he took what was needed from this cavern and gave it, willingly, to Admiral Benden, doing all within his power to help overcome the menace that dropped from the skies. If he had not been murdered—” Shensu broke off, his jaw muscles tensing, his expression bleak. “I do not know where the three shuttles went, but they could only have lifted from Landing on the fuel my father gave Admiral Benden. Now I give the rest of the fuel to a man also named Benden.” Shensu looked pointedly at the lieutenant.

THANK you Saraidh. Shensu's excuses irritate me, but he was a child when Kenjo died, so I'll give him a pass. He's not Benden or Boll going "gosh, Kenjo stole fuel, I hope eevil Avril doesn't find it."

Shensu is in complete denial about his dad stealing fuel by the way:

“My father accumulated this fuel during the transfer from the colony ships to the surface of the planet. He was the most accomplished shuttle pilot of them all. And he was the most economical. He took only what his careful flying saved on each flight, and no one took harm from his economy. He told me how much was wasted by the other pilots, carelessly wasted. He was a charterer and had the right to take what was available. He merely insured that fuel was available.”

“But—” Benden began, wishing to reassure Shensu.

“He saved it to fly. He had to fly.” Shensu’s eyes be-came slightly unfocused as his impassioned explanation continued. “It was his life. With space denied him, he designed a little atmosphere plane. I can show it to you. He flew it here, in Honshu, where no one but us could see him. But he took each of us up in that plane.” Shensu’s face softened with those memories. “That was the prize we all worked for. And I could understand his fascination with flight.” He took a deep breath and regarded the two Fleet officers in his usual inscrutable fashion.

...yeah, dude. That's still stealing. It wasn't his. It was the colony's.

Also, the emphasis on "inscrutable" for this Japanese character grates. Can we use a less racially charged description, McCaffrey?

And as much as he irritates me, Ross is smart enough not to press Shensu. He appreciates being brought into his confidence. I note also that the narrative has been calling him Benden, which is not particularly subtle.

Since they can now bring some of their wealth, Shensu asks what the best ones would be. And he reveals they have black diamonds! Which is apparently a big deal! So anyway, he shows the wealth. They apparently have a shit ton of many many gemstones.

Oh and just in case we didn't know who to sympathize with:

“Probably,” Saraidh murmured, still absorbed in running a shower of the diamonds through her hands. She was absorbed but not, Benden noted, covetous.

Our heroic characters could never be covetous.

Shensu also explains that the black diamonds are why they won't find survivors in the North. Basically volcanoes. And now we get belated justification for our dislike of Stev, sort of:

“Kimmer would stretch the truth every which way,” Shensu said, “to make himself look good. But he desperately wanted to have a larger gene pool—for his own pleasure if not ours.” The last was said with understandable malice. “If only a few more had survived, there’d be that much more future for all of us.”

...I mean. Kimmer wanting to have a new sexual partner is not an evil thing? I'm not sure if we're supposed to read that as him sleeping with his daughters or not. But he does refer to the kids as his grandchildren. And Shensu had called them "our children" when talking about himself and his siblings. So...still...

Later, Benden and Ni Morgana share a moment, when Ross deals with physical after effects of exertion. (The fact that 90 year old Stev apparently deals with this every day doesn't occur to them. Or for that matter any of the other, younger survivors).

And of course, we get more "look how greedy Stev is"

When she finished doctoring Benden, she washed her hands thoroughly. “I’d say don’t shower today or you’ll lose the relief.” Then she turned back to him with a puzzled expression. “Ross,” she began, settling against the little handbasin and crossing her arms. “How much would you say Kimmer weighed?”

“Hmm . . .” Benden thought of the man’s build and height. “About seventy-two, seventy-four kilos. Why?”

“I weighed him in at ninety-five kilos. Of course, he was clothed, and the tunic and trousers are rather full and made of sturdy fabric, but I wouldn’t have thought he carried that much flesh.”

“Nor would I.”

“I didn’t judge the women correctly, either. They all weighed in a little under and a little over seventy kilos, and none of them are either tall or heavyset.”

They're trying to smuggle jewels of course. But considering we were told that there'd be punitive fines, and they'd have to start their lives somewhere else entirely, I find it hard to blame them. But compare and contrast with Saraidh Ni Morgana's lack of covetousness earlier, I suppose.

To their credit, Ross and Saraidh don't seem to intend to make a big deal of it. They just plan to calculate the weights.

And hey, Kimmer gets to surprise them a little:

“We’ve done the calculations, Kimmer, and we can allow each of you, the children included, twenty-three-point-five kilos of personal effects. That’s what Fleet personnel are generally allowed to bring on voyages, and I can’t see Captain Fargoe objecting to it.”

“Twenty-three-point-five kilos is quite generous, Lieutenant,” Kimmer surprised Benden by saying. He turned to the women chidingly. “That’s more than we had coming out on the Yoko.”

Almost a positive trait, McCaffrey, you're slipping. She fixes it by having him sharply ask about reimbursement when it's brought up that medicinal products and seeds could be valuable commodities. God forbid folks who survived a death world for fifty years want consultation.

Also:

The women removed themselves, with Faith casting one last despairing glance over her shoulder at her father. Benden wondered why he had thought any of them graceful. They waddled in a most ungainly fashion.

Fuck you, Benden.

Benden asks again about other survivors on Pern, noting that others could have carved homes out of rock. And Kimmer again seems to be pretty straight forward. He notes there aren't any other cave systems in the south. He'd gone back to Bitkim Island (I presume Ista) and even discloses that he'd found the black diamond and turquoise there. Ross fakes surprise.

And oh, actually, this is funny and sad. He'd gone back for the jewels and found Jim Tillek's ship there, Thread scored.

“The admiral’s right hand. And a man who loved that ship. Loved it like other men love women—or Fussy Fusi loved flying.” Kimmer allowed his malice to show briefly. “But I’m telling you, Jim Tillek wouldn’t have left that ship, not to gather dust and algae on her hull, if he was alive somewhere on Pern. And that ship had been anchored there three or four years. That’s one very good reason why I know no one was left alive.

A nice connection to Dolphin's Bell. Kimmer is wrong, but his conclusion makes sense and isn't malicious. He asks if Benden detected anyone in the northern hemisphere on his instruments. He did not. Which admittedly is confusing, but okay. Stev genuinely seems to believe they're all dead.

Later, Kimmer has an idea, convincing Benden that he can use the sled to eyeball the remains of the colony and look for survivors. He also apparently has figured out that Ross is related to Benden at this point, which is honestly more competence than McCaffrey usually gives the people we're supposed to dislike.

Stev describes his searches to Benden, all the empty and Threadridden stakes. He does note that, surprisingly, Ted Tubberman's place isn't Threadridden. Hee, grubs. He seems pretty straightforward, disclosing which places he stopped at and which ones he didn't. He also discloses where he stopped looking.

And of course, we get more uncharitable Stev interpretations:

“So there could be survivors to the west . . .” Benden pored over the map, feeling a surge of excitement and hope. Then he wondered why Kimmer was willing to take such a risk: that enough survivors might be found for the colony to be left to work out its parochial problems. Maybe the prospect of leaving so much behind, including being the default owner of a planet, was giving Kimmer second thoughts. If fifty years of his life’s endeavors were going to be crammed into a 23.5-kilo sack, living out the remainder of his life in the comforts he had achieved might indeed hold more charm for the old man than an uncertain, and possibly pauper’s, existence in a linear warren.

I feel like this would bother me less if we had any real basis for this. Stev, outloud, is obnoxious, a braggart, and a coward (read: traumatized), but Ross continues to attribute malicious motives to him without any clear basis.

It does seem like Kimmer really wants to go west for some inexplicable reason though. He shows Ross to the sled. Nev wants to go too, he doesn't trust Kimmer. Benden intends to bring some other people, but will leave Nev to keep watch on the shuttle instead.

There's an interesting bit where Ross gives Kimmer the "conn" to see how competent he is. And, to my vague surprise, Kimmer IS competent with it. Ross muses about possible motives, but it's basically still "Stev bad"

There's some bittersweet bits where Kimmer notes Drake's Lake and sourly laughs about arrogant fools. They note surviving livestock and ask what Kimmer will do: they'll turn theirs loose. Chio however is sad at leaving her fire lizard behind. But Ross says "no creatures." I bet it still comes.

Stev shows him the mine, noting that if people survived, they'd have come back, right? Everything is still set up. Aw. There's some cute camp scenes too, but nothing interesting.

Oh, this is sad:

Kimmer’s eyes gleamed as he appreciated what Benden did not ask. “Once I reached Honshu, I didn’t use the sled at all, except as a power source for the comunit, for maybe five-six years. Ito got very sick and I went to Landing to see if I could get a medic out here. They’d all left and taken everything with them. I tried some other stakes, as I told you, but they were deserted, too. Ito died, and I was too busy with the kids and then Chio’s to go off. Then I made one trip to Bitkim, and four years later, as I’d no way to recharge the pack, I made that last trip. But,” he added, holding up a gnarled finger, “like I told you, just before I lost all contact, I heard part of Benden’s message to conserve all power. So they couldn’t have had many operational sleds. I think . . .” Kimmer paused to search his memory. His eyes met the lieutenant’s. “I think they didn’t have enough power left to go after Thread anymore, and they were going to have to wait.” He sighed. “That’d be forty years they’d’ve had to wait for the end of Thread, Lieutenant, and I don’t think they made it.”

It does sound like Kimmer and Chio might have paired off, which makes some sense. I THINK she's Kenjo's child, from the description, not his. So not incestuous, though definitely skeevy.

Kimmer says that if he knew where they were, he'd have hiked across the continent to find them and...oh...

Kimmer shrugged. “Hell, Lieutenant, if I knew that I’d’ve hiked across the continent to find them once Thread stopped. If I’d had one whisper, I’d’ve tracked it down.” He swiveled about then, facing west. “They were someplace in the west, from the direction of their signals. Say!” His face lit up suddenly. “Maybe they went to Ierne Island. That would have been easier to protect than one of these open stakes.”

...we do know, from Second Weyr, that there were people on Ierne Island. Torene had been worried about losing the Benden location to them. They presumably settled in a different one.

Stev is doomed to keep missing his own people. That's actually genuinely tragic.

And I will give McCaffrey credit here. Ross seems to realize that "it looked as if Kimmer's conscience required him to also be confident that there were no other survivors from Paul Benden's group".

That might be the kindest thing Ross has thought about Stev. Of course, the trip finds nobody.

Apparently back at the ranch, the women are acting weird. Nev doesn't disclose what though, just that Ni Morgana thinks something's up.

They get to Honshu and Stev gets to show off by parking the sled. Again, he gets to be competent. I am irrationally pleased.

So they get back. Ni Morgana shares her investigations. She also shares that the women are nervous. They think Stev may have given them orders before he left. She suspects attempts to smuggle. We're told Chio has released her "dragony pet", poor thing.

They have a feast, and the next day, depart.

Oh, hey, cameo by the Pernese:

A fisherman, standing the dogwatch on his trawler off the coast of Fort Hold, saw the fiery trail, vivid against the gray eastern sky, and wondered at it. He followed the blazing lance of light until it was no longer visible. He wondered what it was, but his more immediate concern was keeping warm and wondering if the cook had made klah by now and could he get a cup.

So back on the shuttle, they're having trouble. It turns out they're 495.56 kilos overweight. Kimmer's smuggled something aboard, clearly. Though I feel like this is an example of McCaffrey making her villains incompetent, because Stev was an experienced spacer and should know full well that it's fuel and physics that determine weight.

Ross is mad about Kimmer outsmarting him. He confronts him. He basically threatens Kimmer, who blithely tells him that he'd know better than Kimmer does what can be jettisoned to save them. The women are all hysterical but won't say what they've done. Benden basically threatens to airlock Kimmer.

They discover that everyone's wearing gold plated garments. But they had known that they were weighing themselves done. They want to know what else Kimmer's hiding. (Kimmer boasts that the cruiser will rescue them, Benden thinks he's an idiot. The cruiser is in com shadow and they can't arrange a new rendezvous, which admittedly does answer questions I've had earlier.)

Kimmer is actually a pretty smart adversary. He figures they have enough fuel. Chio had checked the gauges and Kimmer knows that Shensu knew where Kenjo had hidden the fuels.

And here we go, to belatedly justify everyone's psychic dislike of the guy:

“I’ll have taken a Benden down with me,” the man snarled, his face contorted with hatred and sheer malevolence.

“But Chio, and your daughters, your grandchildren—” Benden began.

“They were none of them worth the effort I put into them,” Kimmer replied arrogantly. “I have to share my wealth with them, but I’m certainly not sharing it with you.”

“Sharing?” Benden stared at him, not quite comprehending the man’s words. “You think I’m blackmailing you? For a share of your wealth?” The disgust in his voice momentarily rattled the old man, but Benden hardly noticed. “There are many people in my world, Kimmer, who are not motivated by greed.” He gestured with contemptuous anger at the sheets and lozenges at Kimmer’s feet. “None of that is worth the risk you want us to take. What have you hidden on the Erica—and where?”

Yes, yes, our heroes are never greedy.

Basically, Kimmer, being a mining engineer, found ores. He had the girls melt ingots and make sheets. And eventually they find out where the sheets were stowed. Nev is even somewhat admiring of Stev's knowledge.

They go to find Kimmer, but, well. He apparently got spaced. Benden initially thinks it's Shensu - who is astonished but not regretful. Shensu says he was busy searching the ship. (It occurs to me to wonder why the women are more loyal to Stev than the other men. I'm sure I'm supposed to read badly into that. But it's also possible the men are all terrible. But of course, not McCaffrey's favorites...)

Jiro suggests he committed suicide instead. But Ni Morgana and Benden doubt it. They're probably right, but I am annoyed anyway.

They are able to space enough to be okay. They decide to let the women keep their allotments, even though Ross is vengeful enough to contemplate otherwise. They realize Kimmer had been planning this a long time. And they wonder if Kimmer may have mislead them after all.

That doesn't fit with what we've seen, but I can't blame them for being mistrustful NOW. It's just annoying that McCaffrey always makes her heroes psychic.

Chio, by the way, is deeply depressed. They're not sure if it's losing Kimmer or something else. We of course know the real reason. Poor lizard. Poor Chio.

They keep speculating about Kimmer's motives. The women are scared about their gemstones being confiscated to pay for their rescue. Everyone acts like this is unreasonable, but the story MENTIONED punitive payments earlier!

Apparently Stev had convinced them they'd be paupers. But Ni Morgana reassures them that between the black diamonds and medicines, they'll be rich. (Things that Stev helped them get, if we recall. I know he's the villain now, but I feel like he should still be credited with wanting them to be provided for.)

Numbweed, by the way, is a really big deal. And of course, NOW we get the "Kimmer is actually evil" post-justification.

“We won’t be Kimmer’s slaves anymore,” Kimo added.

“We would all have died without Kimmer after Mother died,” Chio turned back, mastering her tears, unable to stop defending the man who had dominated her for so long.

“Died because she had too many stillborn babies,” Kimo said. “You forget that, Chio. You forget that you were pregnant two months after you became a woman. You forget how you cried. I do not.”

Chio stared at her brother, her face a mask of sorrow. Then she turned to Benden and Ni Morgana, her eyes narrow. “And will you tell this captain of yours about Kimmer’s death?”

It's not really surprising, but there we go. I suppose McCaffrey realized she hadn't actually established the guy as any more evil than anyone else, so he fucked Ito to death then started sleeping with his step-daughter. (The thing about finding medicine for her was a lie? Or maybe he did care? But the Chio thing is unforgivable of course, either way.)

They will report Kimmer's death. No one knows who killed him or if he killed himself. Chio's reaction kind of seems like she might have done it. I hope so.

So they contact the Amherst, yay. They'll have to jettison 49.05 more kilos. Oh, I see where this is going. They end up tossing a lot of very replaceable materials. I respect that they don't make the refugees give up their wealth. They make it work.

And some pages later (nothing really interesting happens), they make it back. They discuss Kimmer, and seem to genuinely believe he suicided. Of course, even now, they can't attribute a non-evil motive, and they assume he was trying to frame the brothers, jeopardizing their futures and discrediting "another Benden". Jeeze.

I mean, I'm sure that's what McCaffrey intends here, but it's all out of the blue. But whatever. Evil stepdad Kimmer is gone. Saraidh is going to recommend Pern be interdicted. And Benden is happy with a successful rescue run.

The story and the book end here.