Part Twelve, Chapter One - Presumably We're In Space Now

The book's second line is used to tell us that Jettero Heller is still in his dress uniform, as if we might be wondering if he'd managed to change clothes between volumes.  The third line confirms that his little red cap is still on his head.  Looking back, just about every time Heller appears in the story, Hubbard gives us a wardrobe update.  Meanwhile I still have no concept of Gris' appearance beyond "shabby." 

When Gris makes his way to the spaceship's cockpit, he finds Jettero Heller lounging in the pilot's seat (in his dress uniform and red hat), controlling the throttle with one hand while holding a mic in the other to chat with Traffic Control, mentioning Prince Caucalsia's order number and everything without any regard to operational security. He even frisks Gris and uses the agent's identoplate to authorize their departure

Gris is distracted from their rather overt departure by an envelope in his pocket, an envelope that he didn't put there.  An envelope that angers him.  "I felt terribly irritated by it.  The thing offended me.  It should not have been there!"  But he doesn't open it.  That'll show that stupid envelope.

There's a confrontation when the captain from the ship's "Antimanco" crew... hold on, Heller isn't the captain?  That's right, he's Mission Earth's completely unqualified infiltrator, not the guy flying the spaceship.  So why was Heller the one who picked the mission ship?  Why was Heller the one who took off?  Why has he been acting like he's in charge of the mission and simply refused to listen to the suggestions or orders of the guys actually planning and launching the operation? Why hasn't anyone put him in his place? 

Bossy little sod.  Well, the real captain's here now, staring at Heller with undisguised loathing for being both a Manco and a Fleet-trained "royal officer" ...oh God, please don't tell me Heller's actually royalty.  I was joking when I wondered how he'd become a prince.  Please, no.

Heller asks to see the crew's papers and everything seems to check out, though he does wonder at the lack of a detaching endorsement for the crew's last voyage (it's because they went pirate before being Apparatus'd).  He graciously allows the captain to take over the control deck, and then Heller sees to Gris, because the little murderer looks bad and needs taking care of.

So Gris, expecting at any minute to be thrown out an airlock, is led back to his room, gently set down on his bed, tenderly undressed... and put in a pressure suit and strapped down.  This is partially because Gris has a bad case of the post-meth Shakes, and also to help against G-forces.  Because the spaceship with engines that warp time and space doesn't have an inertial damper or G-diffuser or anything.  Oh, and the suit's also insulated in case of "stray sparks."  So it's a spaceship with engines that warp space-time and faulty wiring.

Then Heller goes around Gris' cabin, picking up loose items (to torture Gris with, Gris decides) and putting them in a safe, tsks over the bottle of pills, sets up some buttons Gris could use to call him or the captain, notes the envelop Gris found has been marked "urgent" and advises him to read it, and leaves (to confer with the captain on ways to kill Gris, of course).

The chapter ends with our paranoid narrator tied up like a mental patient and shaking in his restraints, wishing for death.  "But not with an amphetamine; no, my Gods!  That would be too cruel!"

What's weird is that I have no idea what Prince Caucalsia is doing right now.  Last book/chapter it was still shooting into the sky from the launch party, right?  Well, there's no indication that it's even moving beyond a mention of going down a "tilted" passageway.  No deafening roar from the engines, no shuddering and shaking of the ship itself as it slices through the atmosphere, no howl of wind or clouds streaming past the windows, no moment of sudden quiet when it leaves the atmosphere.  It has no effect on the characters' movement or behavior - Heller is lounging in the pilot's seat, the captain is just standing in a side passage.  Nobody's strapped in or bracing themselves despite being in metal tube using controlled explosions to fling itself free of a gravity well.  Nobody had to strap in before the launch, but Heller gets Gris to his cabin and all suited up afterward.

We had our exciting spaceship launch last chapter, and then the author kind of forgot about it. 


Back to the Stuff Before Chapter One
Back to Part Eleven, Chapter Nine

Forward to Part Twelve, Chapter Two