Cherryh, and Downbelow Station
Jan. 15th, 2004 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldWhile I did my laundry Sunday night (or, rather, very early Monday morning), I read C. J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station, and I was impressed. It’s marginally space-operatic—there is a faster-than-light drive, after all, and physical commodities which are valuable enough to merit transport across interstellar distances—but on the whole it’s a plausible universe that’s described here. True, at times the writing is so dense and the plot so convoluted that Downbelow Station descends to some of the stereotypes of inferior science-fiction writing. On the whole, though, I’m impressed by her capabilities as a writer, as more people should be.
In the first century or so of starflight, the Earth Company manages to scatter a half-dozen stations to nearby planetary systems. None of these have Earth-like planets, and so these stations remain dependent on Earth for support, exporting to each other and to Earth. The discovery of the world of Downbelow at Pell’s Star (Tau Ceti), with its Earth-like biosphere and native hisa sophonts, changes this; Pell Station is able to grow quite nicely, supported by an entire biosphere and native labour, attracting immigrants from the other more marginal stations. It is the discovery of the world of Cyteen, generally Earth-like and far from Sol (at BD +01 4774, in case anyone wants to know), which emancipates the furthest stations from their dependency on an increasingly out-of-touch Earth. Supported by a planetary biosphere, boosting their numbers with mass cloning, and possessing a faster-than-light jump drive, the Union and the Earth Company go to war.
Downbelow Station takes place at the end of the War. Earth Company’s fleet has ravaged most of the stations between Pell and Cyteen, precipitating flows of desperate refugees to Pell but failing to break the Union, indeed being steadily forced back to Sol by the Union’s fleets. The Fleet, under the charismatic and ruthless Captain Mazian, has become a power dangerously without scruples or any external loyalties; the Union, equally dangerous, is determined to take Pell. The Konstantin family that runs the Pell system—Downbelow, Pell Station, the Tau Ceti’s entire population both human and hisa—and the remaining free merchanters are caught in the middle.
I’d prefer not to spoil the plot for the reader, not least because Downbelow Station is one of the earliest books (both in terms of writing and in terms of her universe’s chronology). Still, despite the aforementioned occasional turgidity of her writing, it was rather good. I’ll have to read Cyteen--another one of her award-winning novels—next, or, possibly again. I’ve taken out both it and Rimrunners from the Kingston public library, but it remains to be seen whether I’ll have the time to (well) read them in time.)
The below quiz results, though, aren't very encouraging for me:
My #1 result for the SelectSmart.com selector, What Cyteen character are you?, is Ariane Emory
In the first century or so of starflight, the Earth Company manages to scatter a half-dozen stations to nearby planetary systems. None of these have Earth-like planets, and so these stations remain dependent on Earth for support, exporting to each other and to Earth. The discovery of the world of Downbelow at Pell’s Star (Tau Ceti), with its Earth-like biosphere and native hisa sophonts, changes this; Pell Station is able to grow quite nicely, supported by an entire biosphere and native labour, attracting immigrants from the other more marginal stations. It is the discovery of the world of Cyteen, generally Earth-like and far from Sol (at BD +01 4774, in case anyone wants to know), which emancipates the furthest stations from their dependency on an increasingly out-of-touch Earth. Supported by a planetary biosphere, boosting their numbers with mass cloning, and possessing a faster-than-light jump drive, the Union and the Earth Company go to war.
Downbelow Station takes place at the end of the War. Earth Company’s fleet has ravaged most of the stations between Pell and Cyteen, precipitating flows of desperate refugees to Pell but failing to break the Union, indeed being steadily forced back to Sol by the Union’s fleets. The Fleet, under the charismatic and ruthless Captain Mazian, has become a power dangerously without scruples or any external loyalties; the Union, equally dangerous, is determined to take Pell. The Konstantin family that runs the Pell system—Downbelow, Pell Station, the Tau Ceti’s entire population both human and hisa—and the remaining free merchanters are caught in the middle.
I’d prefer not to spoil the plot for the reader, not least because Downbelow Station is one of the earliest books (both in terms of writing and in terms of her universe’s chronology). Still, despite the aforementioned occasional turgidity of her writing, it was rather good. I’ll have to read Cyteen--another one of her award-winning novels—next, or, possibly again. I’ve taken out both it and Rimrunners from the Kingston public library, but it remains to be seen whether I’ll have the time to (well) read them in time.)
The below quiz results, though, aren't very encouraging for me:
As one source says,
"Cyteen is the home of Reseune, which produces phenotypes to order. Reseune is the home of Ariane Emory. Ariane Emory is a
brilliant geneticist, a genius at producing "tapes", the environment that produces the phenotypes from the genotypes, a consummate politician, an iron-willed director, and a cold hearted cynical bitch. Just as the "tapes" control the "azi", the human product of her laboratories, does she control her underlings. She is admired, feared and loathed by those beneath her."
From what I've read of the book, she does quite a few worse things before she gets murdered. Ouch.
Remind me not to be a manipulative sociopath with massive amounts of power at my disposal somebody, eh?
