Contents
CHAPTER 9
Overview
Ravna wakes to news that Relay has committed a backbone transceiver to search for Straum survivors, seemingly validating the Skroderiders’ plea. Grondr then reveals Old One secretly manipulated Relay and the junkyard, fabricating Pham as a human emissary. Relay confronts Old One and restricts its access. Ravna realizes Pham’s origins and reels at having unwittingly faced a Power.
Summary
Ravna wakes content after a night with Pham, only to be called by Greenstalk. The Skroderider thanks her, reporting that Relay has suddenly authorized an expensive backbone transceiver search for survivor signals from Straum, something the Riders had failed to secure for hundreds of hours. Ravna is surprised but sees the potential for crucial intelligence against the Perversion.
Shortly after, Grondr Vrinimikalir calls in visible distress. Ravna skims Relay business: catastrophic bandwidth diversion and Windsong’s opportunistic offer to replace Relay. Grondr explains that “Old One” had covertly commandeered Relay’s capacity and deceived them, forcing near-crisis measures.
Grondr describes a confrontation where Relay nearly threatened violence against Old One’s local presence. Old One, amused, backs down; Relay limits it to a single transceiver on a search unrelated to Relay’s operations. The immediate resource hemorrhage ends, but the manipulation is laid bare.
Grondr then details Old One’s deeper interference: it altered junkyard records and raided a dredge site that held a wrecked human ship, reassembling remains and extrapolating memories from cultural data to create a functioning human—Pham Nuwen. Autonomous most of the time, Pham becomes a full emissary device when Old One purchases maximum bandwidth.
Ravna grasps that Pham’s identity is fabricated and that she had spent the night with the hand and eye of a Power. Anger and fear crash over her, tempered by the surreal realization that she has directly encountered a Power—an experience rare enough to become legend.
Who Appears
- RavnaWakes elated, then learns Pham was fabricated by a Power; processes betrayal and awe while tracking Relay’s sudden search effort.
- Grondr VrinimikalirRelay representative who reveals Old One’s manipulation, near-confrontation, and the restriction of its bandwidth.
- Old OnePower that hijacked Relay resources, altered records, and created Pham; retreats when challenged and is limited to one transceiver.
- Pham NuwenRevealed as a human construct with fabricated memories; autonomous but becomes Old One’s emissary under high bandwidth.
- GreenstalkSkroderider who reports Relay’s immediate backbone transceiver search for Straum survivors, thanking Ravna.