CHAPTER 40
Note
!V June 18, 1991 mARK
!V June 19, 1991 INCON that Amdi is split around Jefri even in this
!V emergency. But it does show their closeness, and does mention
!V Amdi's superior ability in dark tunnels. Besides, Jefri may
!V not be that much of an obstacle
^ V Amdi wants to be all near him
!V QU INCON with previous scene where Jefri does not seem panicked
Any time before now, the climb through the walls would have been fun. Even though it was pitch dark, Amdi was in front and behind him, and his noses gave him a good feel for the way. Anytime before now there would have been the thrill of discovery, of giggling at Amdi's strung-out mental state.
But now Amdi's confusion was simply scary. He kept bumping into Jefri's heels. "I'm going as fast as I can." The fabric of Jefri's pants' knees was already torn apart on the rough stone. He hustled faster, the stabbing beat of rock on knees barely penetrating his consciousness. He bumped into the puppy ahead of him. The puppy had stopped, seemed to be twisting sideways. "There's a fork. I say we ... what should I say, Jefri?"
Jefri rolled back, knocking his head on top of the wormhole. For most of a year, it had been Amdi's confidence, his cheeky cleverness, that had kept him going. Now ... suddenly he was aware of the tonnes of rock that were pressing in from all directions. If the tunnel narrowed just a few centimeters, they would be stuck here forever.
"Jefri?"
"I--" Think! "Which side seems to be going up?"
Note
!V CHK the configuration -- I think okay March 2, 1991
"Just a second." The lead member ran off a little ways down one fork.
"Don't go too far!" Jefri shouted.
"Don't worry. I ... he'll know to get back." Then he heard the patter of return, and the lead member was touching its nose to his cheek. "The one on the right goes up."
They hadn't gone more than fifteen meters before Amdi started hearing things. "People chasing us?" asked Jefri.
"No. I'm mean, I'm not sure. Stop. Listen.... Hear that? Gluppy, syrupy." Oil.
No more stopping. Jefri moved faster than ever up the tunnel. His head bumped into the ceiling and he stumbled to his elbows, recovered without thinking and raced on. A trickle of blood dripped down his cheek.
Even he could hear the oil now.
The sides of the tunnel closed down on his shoulders. Ahead of him, Amdi said, "Dead end -- or we're at an exit!" Scritching sounds. "I can't move it." The puppy turned around and wiggled back between Jefri's legs. "Push at the top, Jefri. If it's like the one I found in the dome, it opens at the top."
The darn tunnel got narrow right before the door. Jefri hunched his shoulders and squeezed forward. He pushed at the top of the door. It moved, maybe a centimeter. He crawled forward a little further, squished so tightly between the walls that he couldn't even take a deep breath. Now he pushed hard as he could. The stone turned all the way and light spilled onto his face. It wasn't full daylight; they were still hidden from the outside behind angles of stone -- but it was the happiest sight Jefri had ever seen. Half a meter more and he would be out -- only now he was jammed.
He twisted forward a fraction, and things only seemed to get worse. Behind him, Amdi was piling up. "Jefri! My rear paws are in the oil. It's filled the tunnel all up behind us."
Note
!NÆH: QU Do you think I should hark back to some earlier childhood
! incident here
! where Jefri was caught in something, and parents had to "call the Fire
! Dept" to get him out?
Panic. For a second Jefri couldn't think of anything. So close, so close. He could see color now, the bloody smears on his hands. "Back up! I'll take off my jacket and try again."
Backing up was itself almost impossible, so thoroughly wedged had he become. Finally he'd done it. He turned on his side, shrugged out of the jacket.
"Jefri! Two of me under ... oil. Can't breathe." The puppies jammed up around him, their pelts slick with oil. Slick!
Note
!BKG IMP How Tines react to swimming or even having their tympana wet.
"Jus' second!" Jefri wiped the fur, smeared his shoulders with the oil. He extended his arms straight past his head and used his heels to push back into the narrowness. Then the stone closed in on his shoulders. Behind him, what was left of Amdi was making whistling noises. Jam. Push. Push. A centimeter, another. And then he was out to his armpits and it was easy.
He dropped to the ground and reached back to grab the nearest part of Amdi. The pup wriggled out of his hands. It blubbered something not Tinish and not human. Jefri could see the dark shadows of several members pulling at something out of sight. A second later, a cold, wet blob of fur rolled out of the darkness into his arms. A second more, and out came another. Jefri lowered the two to the ground and wiped goo away from their muzzles. One rolled onto its legs and began to shake itself. The other started choking and coughing.
Meanwhile the rest of Amdi dropped out of the hole. All eight were covered with some amount of oil. They straggled drunkenly into a heap, licking each another's tympana. Their buzzing and croaking made no sense.
Note
!V June 19, 1991 small PRB petroleum poisoning
!Some planning onwak 30Jul: Blueshell contrasting his puppet status with
! Pham's
! TITLE of the last chapter (even if others are not titled): Epilogs
Jefri turned from his friend and walked toward the light. They were hidden by a turn in the stone ... fortunately. From around the corner he could hear the marshaling calls of Steel's troopers. He crept to the edge and peered around. For an instant he thought he and Amdi were back inside the castle yard; there were so many troopers. But then he saw the unbounded sweep of the hillside and the smoke rising out of the valley.
What next? He glanced back at Amdi, who was still frantically grooming his tympana. The chords and hums were sounding more rational now, and all of Amdi was moving. He turned back to the hillside. For an instant he almost felt like rushing out to the troops. They had been his protectors for so long.
Note
!IMP PRB QU need some good reason why Pham can't go airborne and high
! and strafe with the beamer. (Interference with Woodcarver fire would
! seem to be a temporary excuse, since Pilgrim could call that off --
! and besides, Woodcarver shouldn't use art'ry where the kid might come
! out.)
One of Amdi bumped against his legs, and looked out for himself. "Wow. There's a regular lake of oil between us and Mr. Steel's soldiers. I --"
The booming sound was loud, but not like a gunpowder blast. It lasted almost a second, then became a background roar. Two more of Amdi stretched necks around the corner. The lake had become a roaring sea of flame.
Blueshell had maneuvered the boat within two hundred meters of the castle wall, opposite the point where the packs had bunched up. Now the lander floated just a man's height off the moss. "Just our being here is driving the packs away," said Pilgrim.
Pham glanced over his shoulder. Woodcarver's troops had regained the field and were racing toward the castle walls. Another sixty seconds, max, and they would be in contact with Steel's packs.
Note
!V mARK2 March 2, 1991 following is related to MARK1, above
!V Woodcarver's artillery sounds INCON dangerous to friendlies,
!V especially with all the oil around. -- FIXED above by having the
!V artry used only briefly. I assume it wasn't used for much of
!V the preceding scenes because Woodcarver was moving troops in
!V in close (slightly weak, but TUF)
There was a loud brap from Blueshell's voder, and Pham looked forward. "By the Fleet," he said softly. Packs on the ramparts had fired some kind of flamethrowers into the pools of oil below the castle walls. Blueshell flew in a little closer. Long pools of oil lay parallel to the walls. The enemy's packs on the outside were all but cut off from their castle now. Except for one thirty-meter-wide gap, the section they had been guarding was high fire.
Note
!V Explicitly cut off cannon fire? Yes
The boat bobbed a little higher, tilting and sliding in the fire-driven whirl of air. In most places the oil lapped the sloped base of the walls. Those walls were more intricate than the castles of Canberra -- in many places it looked like there were little mazes or caves built into the base. Looks damn stupid in a defensive structure.
"Jefri!" screamed Johanna, and pointed toward the middle of the unburning section. Pham had a glimpse of something withdrawing behind the stonework.
Note
!IMP general RETRO to make Blueshell's behavior look more ambiguous
!ID might have a slow increase in understanding of Riderish mannerisms
! as the story progresses
"I saw him too." Blueshell tilted the boat over and slid downwards, toward the wall. Johanna's hand closed on Pham's arm, pushing and shaking. He could barely hear her voice over the Pilgrim's shouting. "Please, please, please," she was saying.
For a moment it looked like they would make it: Steel's troops were well back from them and -- though there were ponds of oil below them -- they were not yet alight. Even the air seemed quieter than before. For all that, Blueshell managed to lose control. A gentle tipping went uncorrected, and the boat slid sideways into the ground. It was a slow collision, but Pham heard one of the landing pods cracking. Blueshell played with the controls and the other side of the craft settled to earth. The beamer was stuck muzzle first into the earth.
Pham's gaze snapped up at the Skroderider. He'd known it would come to this.
Ravna: "What happened? Can you get up?"
Blueshell dithered with the controls a moment longer, then gave a Riderish shrug. "Yes. But it will take too long --" He was undoing his restraints, unclamping his skrode from the deck. The hatch in front of him slid open, and the noise of battle and fire came loud.
"What in hell do you think you're doing, Blueshell!"
The Rider's fronds angled attention at Pham, "To rescue the boy. This will all be afire in a moment."
"And this boat could fry if we leave it here. You're not going anywhere, Blueshell." He leaned forward, far enough to grab the other by his lower fronds.
Johanna was looking wildly from one to the other in an uncomprehending panic. "No! Please --" And Ravna was shouting at him too. Pham tensed, all his attention on the Rider.
Note
!NÆH: ID Could be he needs the boat because it is crammed with gear he
! thinks
! will help with the Testament. The downside of this is the added danger
! this puts the equipment in.
!hld Godshatter is driving Pham to the Testament
^ RETROwrite that Blueshell's skrode has been thoroughly disarmed
^ V (could do this in Lost Time 2)
!EOMarker
Blueshell rocked toward him in the cramped space and pushed his fronds close to Pham's face. The voder voice frayed into nonlinearity: "And what will you do if I disobey? You need me whole or the boat is useless. I go, Sir Pham. I prove I am not the thrall of some Power. Can you prove as much?"
He paused, and for a moment Rider and human stared at each other from centimeters apart. But Pham did not grab him.
Brap. Blueshell's fronds withdrew. He rolled back onto the lip of the hatch. The skrode's third axle reached the ground, and he descended in a controlled teeter. Still Pham had not moved. I am not some Power's program.
Note
^ V June 19, 1991 Considering the previously stated size of the skrode
^ V (large). You may want to do some small rephrasing of the lander
^ V cabin stuff
"Pham?" The girl was looking up at him, and tugging at his sleeve. Nuwen shook the nightmare away and saw again. The Pilgrim pack was already out of the boat. Short swords were held in the mouths of the four adults; steel claws gleamed on their forepaws.
"Okay." He flipped open a panel, withdrew the pistol he'd hidden there. Since Blueshell had crashed the damn boat, there was no choice but to make the best of it.
Note
!V They should be standing on the side of the craft away from the castle
The realization was a cool breath of freedom. He pulled free of the crash restraints and clambered down. Pilgrim stood all around him. The two with puppies were unlimbering some kind of shields. Even with all his mouths full, the critter's voice was as clear as ever: "Maybe we can find a way closer in --" between the flames. There were no more arrows from the ramparts. The air above the fire was just too hot for the archers.
Pham and Johanna followed Pilgrim as he skirted pools of black goo. "Stay as far from the oil as we can."
The packs of Mr. Steel were rounding the flames. Pham couldn't tell if they were charging the lander or simply fleeing the friendlies that chased them. And maybe it didn't matter. He dropped to one knee and sprayed the oncoming packs with his handgun. It was nothing like the beamer, especially at this range, but it was not to be ignored: the front dogs tumbled. Others bounded over them. They reached the far edge of the oil. Only a few ventured into the goo -- they knew what it could become. Others shifted out of Pham's sight, behind the landing boat.
Was there a dry approach? Pham ran along the edge of the oil. There had to be a gap in the "moat", or surely the fire would have spread. Ahead of him the flames towered twenty meters into the air, the heat a physical battering on his skin. Above the top of the glow, tarry smoke swept back over the field, turning the sunlight into reddish murk. "Can't see a thing," came Ravna's voice in his ear, despairing.
"There's still a chance, Rav." If he could hold them off long enough for Woodcarver's troops....
Steel's packs had found a safe path inwards and were coming closer. Something sighed past him -- an arrow. He dropped to the ground and sprayed the enemy packs at full rate. If they had known how fast he was getting to empty they might have kept coming, but after a few seconds of ripping carnage, the advance halted. The enemy sweep broke apart and the dogthings were running away, taking their chances with Woodcarver's packs.
Note
!V I think I can make a geometry for this, but it's an awful lot of
!V oil! INCON
^ V One thing about this is earlier on to mention that they have
^ V enormous reserves in the castle -- for some good reason.
Pham turned and looked back at the castle. Johanna and Pilgrim stood ten meters nearer the walls. She was pulling against the pack's grasp. Pham followed her gaze.... There was the Skroderider. Blueshell had paid no attention to the packs that ran around the edge of the fire. He rolled steadily inwards, oily tracks marking his progress. The Rider had drawn in all his externals and pulled his cargo scarf close to his central stalk. He was driving blind through the superheated air, deeper and deeper into the narrowing gap between the flames.
He was less than fifteen meters from the walls. Abruptly two fronds extended out from his trunk, into the heat. There. Through the heat shimmer, Pham could see the kid, walking uncertainly out from the cover of stone. Small shapes sat on the boy's shoulders, and walked beside him. Pham ran up the slope. He could move faster over this terrain than any Rider. Maybe there was time.
A single burst of flame arched down from the castle, into the pond of oil between him and the Rider at the wall. What had been a narrow channel of safety was gone, and the flames spread unbroken before him.
Note
^ V June 19, 1991 seems to me that Pham couldn't be much more than
^ V 100m from the wall. This puts an upper limit on chit-chat etc
"There's still lots of clear space," Amdi said. He reached a few meters out from their hiding place to reconnoiter around the corners. "The flier is down! Some ... strange thing ... is coming our way. Blueshell or Greenstalk?"
There were lots of Steel's packs out there too, but not close -- probably because of the flier. That was a weird one, with none of the symmetry of Straumer aircraft. It looked all tilted over, almost as if it had crashed. A tall human raced across their field of view, firing at Steel's troops. Jefri looked further out, and his hand tightened almost unconsciously on the nearest puppy. Coming toward them was a wheeled vehicle, like something out of a Nyjoran historical. The sides were painted with jagged stripes. A thick pole grew up from the top.
The two children stepped a little ways out from their protection. The Spacer saw them! It slewed about, spraying oil and moss from under its wheels. Two frail somethings reached out from its bluish trunk. Its voice was squeaky Samnorsk. "Quickly, Sir Jefri. We have little time." Behind the creature, beyond the pond of oil, Jefri could see ... Johanna.
Note
!V probably the place to RETRO the tarp is back in the RIP scenes; which
!V also illustrates they can carry cargo.
!jrf2 Yes!
!V February 17, 1991 : c08 c17 c26 c28 now mentioned:
!V Call it cargo scarf, and it could be used in several places, with
!V cute effect (at RIP -- and the ambush there, even)
!jrf2 Nice touch. ok.
And then the pond exploded, the fire on both sides sprouting across all escape routes. Still the Spacer was waving its tendrils, urging them onto the flat of its hull. Jefri grasped at the few handholds available. The puppies jumped up after him, clinging to his shirt and pants. Up close, Jefri could see that the stalk was the person: the skin was smudged and dry, but it was soft and it moved.
Two of Amdi were still on the ground, ranging out on either side of the cart for a better view of the fire. "Wah!" shrieked Amdi by his ear. Even so close, he could scarcely be heard over the thunder of the fire. "We can never get through that, Jefri. Our only chance is to stay here."
The Spacer's voice came from a little plate at the base of its stalk. "No. If you stay here, you will die. The fire is spreading." Jefri had huddled as much behind the Rider's stalk as possible, and still he could feel the heat. Much more and the oil in Amdi's fur would catch fire.
The Rider's tendrils lifted the colored cloth that lay on its hull. "Pull this over you." It waggled a tendril at the rest of Amdi. "All of you."
The two on the ground were crouched behind the creature's front wheels. "Too hot, too hot," came Amdi's voice. But the two jumped up and buried themselves under the peculiar tarpaulin.
Note
!NÆH: QU should there be dialog here where Jefri asks what Blueshell
! will do to protect himself from the fire.
!V CHKd sp tarpaulin
"Cover yourself, all the way!" Jefri felt the Rider pulling the cover over them. The cart was already rolling back, toward the flames. Pain burned through every gap in the tarp. The boy reached frantically, first with one hand and then the other, trying to get the cloth over his legs. Their course was a wild bouncing ride, and Jefri could barely keep hold. Around him he felt Amdi straining with his free jaws to keep the tarpaulin in place. The sound of fire was a roaring beast, and the tarp itself was searing hot against his skin. Every new jolt bounced him up from the hull, threatening to break his grip. For a time, panic obliterated thought. It was not till much later that he remembered the tiny sounds that came from the voder plate, and understood what those sounds must mean.
Note
!IDEA Two slightly different models of congeniality: Speer and Ribbentrop
!RETRO write the shields that Peregrine is carrying -- done,
!V I think.
!V With this revision, the shields aren't as important and perhaps
!V could be smaller.
!V Still need to mention them on the airboat, and perhaps earlier
!V when he is protecting Johanna
Pham ran toward the new flames. Agony. He raised his arms across his face and felt the skin on his hands blistering. He backed away.
"This way, this way!" Pilgrim's voice came from behind him, guiding him out. He ran back, stumbling. The pack was in a shallow gully. It had shifted its shields around to face the new stretch of fire. Two of the pack moved out of his way as he dived behind them.
Both Johanna and the pack were slapping at his head.
Note
!V Here is an example of an okay use of "it" in reference to
!V Pilgrim:
"Your hair's on fire!" the girl shouted. In seconds they had the fire out. The Pilgrim looked a bit singed, too. Its shoulder pouches were tucked safely shut; for the first time, no inquisitive puppy eyes peeked out.
"I still can't see anything, Pham." It was Ravna from high above. "What's going on?"
Quick glance behind him. "We're okay," he gasped. "Woodcarver's packs are tearing up Steel's. But Blueshell --" He peered between in the shields. It was like looking into a kiln. Right by the castle wall there might be a breathing space. A slim hope, but --
"Something is moving in there." Pilgrim had tucked one head briefly around the shield. He withdrew it now, licking his nose from both sides.
Pham looked again through the crack. The fire had internal shadows, places of not-so-bright that wavered ... moved? "I see it too." He felt Johanna stick her head close to his, peering frantically. "It's Blueshell, Rav.... By the Fleet." This last said too softly to carry over the fire sound. There was no sign of Jefri Olsndot, but -- "Blueshell is rolling through the middle of the fire, Rav."
The skrode wheeled out of the deeper oil. Slowly, steadily making its way. And now Pham could see fire within fire, Blueshell's trunk flaring in rivulets of flame. His fronds were no longer gathered into himself. They extended, writhing with their own fire. "He's still coming, driving straight out."
Note
!V Have to make it clear somewhere that the oil around the boat did not
!V get ignited. Hmm, maybe just don't have it come down in the oil?
!V SOLN Yes I got rid of oil around the boat March 3, 1991
The skrode cleared the wall of fire, rolled with jerky abandon down the slope. Blueshell didn't turn toward them, but just before he reached the landing boat, all six wheels grated to a fast stop.
Note
!V PRB injection of omniscient view here TUF
Pham stood and raced back toward the Skroderider. Pilgrim was already unlimbering his shields and turning to follow him. Johanna Olsndot stood for a second, sad and slight and alone, her gaze stuck hopelessly on the fire and smoke on the castle side. One of the Pilgrim grabbed her sleeve, drawing her back from the fire.
Pham was at the Rider now. He stared silently for a second. "... Blueshell's dead, Rav, no way you could doubt if you could see." The fronds were burnt away, leaving stubs along the stalk. The stalk itself had burst.
Ravna's voice in his ear was shuddery. "He drove through that even while he was burning?"
"Can't be. He must have been dead after the first few meters. This must all have been on autopilot." Pham tried to forget the agonized reaching of fronds he had seen back in the fire. He blanked out for a moment, staring at the fire-split flesh.
Note
!Small INCON here, how come Pham didn't notice the lumpiness first?
!V SOLN I think it's fixed now by the ending of the previous paragraph.
The skrode itself radiated heat. Pilgrim sniffed around it, shying away abruptly when a nose came too close. Abruptly he reached out a steel-tined paw and pulled hard on the scarf that covered the hull.
Note
!hld You want to think about the transit time through the flames, and lung
!hld sear from hot air and lack of oxygen (and presence of toxics
!hld from the fire).
!hld Water on tarp (lots of water) would help.
Johanna screamed and rushed forward. The forms beneath the scarf were unmoving, but unburned. She grabbed her brother by the shoulders, pulling him to the ground. Pham knelt beside her. Is the kid breathing? He was distantly aware of Ravna shouting in his ear, and Pilgrim plucking tiny dogthings off the metal.
Seconds later the boy started coughing. His arms windmilled against his sister. "Amdi, Amdi!" His eyes opened, widened. "Sis!" And then again. "Amdi?"
"I don't know," said the Pilgrim, standing close to the seven -- no, eight -- grease-covered forms. "There are some mind sounds but not coherent." He nosed at three of puppies, doing something that might have been rescue breathing.
After a moment the little boy began crying, a sound lost in the fire sounds. He crawled across to the puppies, his face right next to one of Pilgrim's. Johanna was right behind him, holding his shoulders, looking first to Pilgrim and then at the still creatures.
Note
!jdv Seeing the dead skroderider, should be made more intense
!jdv Geometry of the rescue of the kids not quite clear
!jrf "Make his flame shielding more credible"
!jrf IMP that readers know Pham and Qeng Ho were for real (at the end
!jrf of the novel). In other words, that is one place where it
!jrf is very important not to be ambiguous.
Pham came to his knees and looked back at the castle. The fire was a little lower now. He stared a long time at the blackened stump that had been Blueshell. Wondering and remembering. Wondering if all the suspicion had been for naught. Wondering what mix of courage and autopilot had been behind the rescue.
Remembering all the months he had spent with Blueshell, the liking and then the hate -- Oh, Blueshell, my friend.
The fires slowly ebbed. Pham paced the edge of receding heat. He felt the godshatter coming finally back upon him. For once he welcomed it, welcomed the drive and the mania, the blunting of irrelevant feeling. He looked at Pilgrim and Johanna and Jefri and the recovering puppy pack. It was all a meaningless diversion. No, not quite meaningless: It had had an effect, of slowing down progress on what was deadly important.
He glanced upwards. There were gaps in the sooty clouds, places where he could see the reddish haze of high-level ash and occasional splotches of blue. The castle's ramparts appeared abandoned, and the battle around the walls had died. "What news?" he said impatiently at the sky.
Ravna: "I still can't see much around you, Pham. Large numbers of Tines are retreating northwards. Looks like a fast, coordinated retreat. Nothing like the 'fight-to-the-last' that we were seeing before. There are no fires within the castle -- or evidence of remaining packs either."
Note
!V May 26, 1991 Make it clearer that he can get in now.
Decision. Pham turned back to the others. He struggled to turn sharp commands into reasonable-sounding requests. "Pilgrim! Pilgrim! I need Woodcarver's help. We have to get inside the castle."
Note
!V in PoV Pham scenes here consider using "it" instead of "he" for
!V references to Pilgrim -- no, mostly he March 3, 1991
Pilgrim didn't need any special persuasion, though he was full of questions. "You're going to fly over the walls?" he asked as he bounded toward him.
Pham was already jogging toward the boat. He boosted Pilgrim aboard, then clambered up. No, he wasn't going to try to fly the damn thing. "No, just use the loudspeaker to get your boss to find a way in."
Seconds later, packtalk was echoing across the hillside. Just minutes more. Just minutes more and I will be facing the Countermeasure. And though he had no conscious notion what might come of that, he felt the godshatter bubbling up for one final takeover, one final effort to do Old One's will. "Where is the Blighter fleet, Rav?"
Note
^ V CHK CHRON 5 ly and 4 hours
Her answer came back immediately. She had watched the battle below, and the hammer coming down from above. "Forty-eight light-years out." Mumbled conversation off-mike. "They've speeded up a little. They'll be in-system in four-six hours.... I'm sorry, Pham."
-=*=-
Note
!ID RETRO You might have net mail somewhere (earlier) soliciting help from
! the Powers June 19, 1991 NO TIME
!hld General comment on crypto as result of listening to Tim May's crypto
!hld talk at SiliCon: good public key systems with digital signature
!hld possible now. Could be used to verify source of net mail and
!hld untampered raw bits. Translators probably would trash the data but
!hld should still be able to forward signatures.
Note
^ [Light gloss]
Crypto: 0
Note
^ Syntax: 43
As received by: OOB shipboard ad hoc
Note
^ (full-gloss channel)
Language path: Triskweline, SjK units
Apparently From: Sandor Arbitration Intelligence [Not the usual originator, but verified by intermediate sites. Originator may be a branch office or a back-up site.]
Subject: Our final message?
Distribution: Threat of the Blight, War Trackers Interest Group, Where Are They Now, Extinctions Log
Note
!V May 4, 1991 CHKd though you may want to use a different epoch
!V May 4, 1991 The proper epoch for many of these messages might be
!V beginning of [this instance of] the Blight
!V June 19, 1991 No, under my new "receiver side" dating format,
!V it should be what OOB automation chooses.
Date: 72.78 days since the Fall of Sjandra Kei
Note
^ V June 16, 1991 date is a little too late
^ V June 19, 1991 Here is my reasoning (from current CHRON):
^ V Various places, you say flight is to be 56d RIP/Tines' World
^ V CHRON says they left RIP 4 days after Fall of SjK
^ V miniSurge last 5d
^ V Say a day max messing in the TW system till Pham's riptide (which
^ V is the time I'm assuming for this message -- though this
^ V message could be earlier <-- (oops, from message internals
^ V It's clear this Blight assault did occur earlier, so this note can't
^ V be directly a consequence of Pham's riptide? This may actually make
^ V things earlier, though one still wonders why the assault
^ V came when it did.)
^ CHRON" Date: 19.788 Msec since Fall of Relay
^ (Clock Slop: unknown)
^ V May 4, 1991 But other places, you elide it to "Sandor Intelligence":
Key phrases: vast new attack, the Fall of Sandor Arbitration
Text of message:
As best we can tell, all our High Beyond sites have been absorbed by the Blight. If you can, please ignore all messages from those sites.
Until four hours ago, our organization comprised twenty civilizations at the Top. What is left of us doesn't know what to say or what to do. Things are so slow and murky and dull now; we were not meant to live this low. We intend to disband after this mailing.
For those who can continue, we want to tell what happened. The new attack was an abrupt thing. Our last recollections from Above are of the Blight suddenly reaching in all directions, sacrificing all its immediate security to acquire as much processing power as possible. We don't know if we had simply underestimated its power, or if the Blight itself is somehow now desperate -- and taking desperate risks.
Up to 3000 seconds ago we were under heavy assault along our organization's internal networks. That has ceased. Temporarily? Or is this the limit of the attack? We don't know, but if you hear from us again, you will know that the Blight has us.
Note
!V I'm not sure if the preceding sentence is a typo!
!jrf2 Where in the sentence? Looks okay to me. What don't you get?
!V It's just incongruous, since usually if you hear from someone again
!V it's because things turned out okay. Here, the opposite is true
!V since Sandor intends to disband while it still has the ability
!V to do so.
Farewell.
-=*=-
Note
^ [Light gloss]
Crypto: 0
Note
^ Syntax: 43
As received by: OOB shipboard ad hoc
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^ (full-gloss channel)
Language path: Optima->Acquileron->Triskweline, SjK units
From: Society for Rational Investigation
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!V June 19, 1991 Position now consistent with c19:594
[Probably a single system in the Middle Beyond, 7500 light-years antispinward of Sjandra Kei]
Subject: The Big Picture
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!INCON "Keywords" v "Key phrases". I don't think that there should be
! both fields
!V March 3, 1991 settled on "key phrases"
Key phrases: The Blight, Nature's Beauty, Unprecedented Opportunities
Summary: Life goes on
Distribution: Threat of the Blight, Society for Rational Network Management, War Trackers Interest Group
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^ V May 4, 1991 CHKd
Date: 72.80 days since the Fall of Sjandra Kei
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!V June 17, 1991 Maybe even make this earlier than Sandor
! 3.223 Msec since Fall of Relay
! (Clock Slop < 4000 seconds)
Text of message:
It's always amusing to see people who think themselves the center of the universe. Take the recent spread of the Blight [references follow for readers not on those threads and newsgroups]. The Blight is an unprecedented change in a limited portion of the Top of the Beyond -- far away from most of my readers. I'm sure it's the ultimate catastrophe for many, and I certainly feel sympathy for such, but a little humor too, that these people somehow think their disaster is the end of everything. Life goes on, folks.
At the same time, it's clear that many readers are not paying proper attention to these events -- certainly not seeing what is truly significant about them. In the last year, we have witnessed the apparent murders of several Powers and the establishment of a new ecosystem in a portion of the High Beyond. Though far away, these events are without precedent.
Often before, I have called this the Net of a Million Lies. Well, people, we now have an opportunity to view things while the truth is still manifest. With luck we may solve some fundamental mysteries about the Zones and the Powers.
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!V May 4, 1991 Make sure you haven't zapped Debley Down
I urge readers to watch events below the Blight from as many angles as possible. In particular, we should take advantage of the remaining relay at Debley Down to coordinate observations on both sides of the Blight-affected region. This will be expensive and tedious, since only Middle and Low Beyond sites are available in the affected region, but it will be well worth it.
General topics to follow:
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!V INCON what about the Helper video?
The nature of the Blight Net communications: The creature is part Power and part High Beyond, and infinitely interesting.
The nature of the recent Great Surge in the Low Beyond beneath the Blight: This is another event without clear precedent. Now is the time to study it.
...
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!jdv p816 repetitious about what had happened in this battle before
!V If reference is to the following paragraph, it should
!V be easy to shorten
!jrf2 |||||||||||||||||| seems right. Do it.
The nature of the Blighter fleet now closing on an off-net site in the Low Beyond: This fleet has been of great interest to War Trackers over the last weeks, but mainly for asinine reasons (who cares about Sjandra Kei and the Aprahant Hegemony; local politics is for locals). The real question should be obvious to all but the brain damaged: Why has the Blight made this great effort so far out its natural depth?
If there are any ships still in the vicinity of the Blight's fleet, I urge them to keep War Trackers posted. Failing that, local civilizations should be reimbursed for forwarding ultrawave traces.
This is all very expensive, but worth it, the observations of the aeon. And the expense will not continue long. The Blight's fleet should arrive at the target star momentarily. Will it stop and retrieve? Or will we see how a Power destroys the systems which oppose it? Either way, we are blessed with opportunity.