van Rijn and Falkayn had transferred data units from the Solar System, where the Troubles were brewing, to the care of the Grand Ducal House and the Falkayns on Hermes;
post-League, the lack of a decipherment program meant that these units remained unread and almost forgotten;
Hloch's mother, Rennhi, compiler of The Sky Of Stormgate, obtained permission to transfer the molecular patterns to Avalon;
her code-breaking effort was supported by the Avalonian armed forces because war between Domain and Empire had become imminent;
the records included the log and other data from the Ythrian ship that had carried van Rijn and Coya Conyon to Mirkheim;
these documents illuminate some references in surviving letters from Coya to Falkayn;
since the documents also identify both the ship and its captain, Rennhi becomes able to approach his choth on Ythri;
Stirrok, Wyvan of Wryfields Choth, locates Hirharouk's journal which the latter's descendants allow to be read;
Hloch and Arinnian write "Lodestar."
Thus:
an unusually long process links van Rijn's discovery of Mirkheim to the publication of the Earth Book;
the process involves a named choth on the home planet, Ythri, although, as in the other short stories, we are nevertheless told nothing about the nature of choths.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
But Old Nick is the single most interesting character to be seen in "Lodestar."
Ad astra! Sean
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