And so we learn that the Survey Contact Team has already met the mysterious Miesti, all the way back in the beginning of Chapter Four. Chocolate Chip cookies all around to everyone who guessed today’s big reveal! And my thanks to those of you who knew what was coming because you recalled the older version of the story, but managed to keep from spilling the beans. Gosh it’s tough, isn’t it? 
Also, Happy Valentine’s Day! I’ve got a new blog post below in celebration of this special day on board the Galaxion.
It’s very tough indeed. ::exhales:: Mmm, cookies.
Yes, the Miesti are creepy alien butterflies. Something tells me that Patty swatting one didn’t make them very happy… They should probably quarantine her or something.
And then there were four…
Yey! Cookies!
… I feel pretty bad for Patty though.
Also, do I actually remember reading a sci-fi story where evil super-intelligent butterflies where created by bringing them back from the future where they already existed …. or was that just a bizarre dream?
Does “not again” mean “we’re going to lose another person” or “we’re going to have to find a new hideout”?
How about both?
Okay, so…
In a nutshell, for an environment they knew nothing about, the Survey Team’s policy is to:
1) Go down to a place where there might be creatures – dangerous ones – with no weaponry (and actually naively protest against such weaponry despite the inherent common sense in it).
2) Go down to a place completely unprotected, unheeding of bacteria and parasites.
Though I love these guys, it appears that preparation and caution have been cast away since our own, much more primitive, era. And now comes the price of naiveté. O_o
Similar comments have been made, including one by some guy who said they were completely unprofessional.
(But) In their defense, they have never done this sort of thing before, even though the survey team is supposed to be trained for this, Earthlike planets are completely unknown. At least their experiences will no doubt serve as textbook examples for the future explorers, although it would have been good if they’d just watched a lot of old Star Trek episodes!
Well, they are rather unprofessional. Current scouting parties – civilian or military – would be better prepared than this.
I guess it makes sense if you take into account that human space seems to have been at peace a good, long while. They’ve lost our paranoia which, in this particular case, would have been helpful to have.
Yes. They’ve made mistakes, but I look at them as a kind of “shoe-string” group. Given the circumstances, their lack of resources and knowledge in an unexpected environment they haven’t done so bad. They’re cautious. They don’t want to do anything they might all regret later. That’s very realistic!
It probably makes for a better story when you really have no idea what’s next.
If they were all more like Rambo I think that would completely ruin it.
Glennnnn covered the basics, but I’d also add that Chapter 4 shows the SCT doing their best to check for hazards when they were first scoping out the crash site of the Hiawatha. The problem was they wouldn’t know what to look for to detect an intelligent, insect-sized, hazard. (My guess is that the Myradi contact probably reinforced the preconception that intelligent aliens would be human-sized or larger).
In addition, this was supposed to be a test of a new engine design. The planetary survey was unplanned (and probably underequipped as a consequence).
True, but still, a survey on an unknown, Earth-like world that seems to be dead? I’d have brough more gear, myself.
A nice thought – but useless if the gear needed is in a spacedock a whole timeline away. Remember they didn’t even have a whole Survey Contact Team – Zan was added at the last minute to fill out their numbers (and presumably to keep him from “remodelling” the Jump Drive ^_^).
Thanks for the cookie!
From what’s been said and revealed so far, it seems the Miesti need to be close by to control their slaves – but Patty swatted the Miesti that was trying to take control of her. This makes me wonder two things:
1. Just how specific is the Miesti’s control over their slaves? Can any Miesti control any slave as needed, or one slave forever linked to one Miesti. If the latter, Patty may have saved herself from enslavement by accident, even if she’s still suffering.
2. I’m assuming that the Miesti’s control is between the Miesti and some form of parasite or infection in the slave that acts as a “reciever” (think of the efforts in labs today of implanting chips in insects to control them). So is Patty “broadcasting” her location?
Well since she killed that Miesti (by accident) how does that figure into being taken over and controlled by that alien creature? (Unless the Miesti is merely the host to another, unnamed parasite?)
Just speculating here, but I think that the Miesti “infect” a potential slave with some kind of microbe (IIRC Patty was bitten or stung). This microbe then takes up residence and reproduces, spreading through either the brain or the spinal column, and linking up with the various neurons it comes in contact with.
This microbe network would become a kind of receiver – not sentient, just to relay commands from a Miesti to the slave. But the particular “transmitter” for Patty’s receiver is now, er, smooshed. The question now becomes, can another Miesti “tune in” to the receiver, or does Patty have to be re-infected for the Miesti to assume control?
Something else just popped up while I was writing this: If my “receiver” hypothesis is right, then the slaves might still retain their own personalities, but lose control of their limbs. It makes me wonder about the shouting the Rautani did when they ambushed Aria and Patty – might they have been trying to warn their would-be victims?
Good points! Is it Tuesday yet???
Ooh, this is where it all hits the fan. Patty is converting, Aria is chasing voices, Zandarin is distracted, and Fusella has an alarm to deal with. I am now waiting with trepidation.
Maybe the Miesti will allow Patty to wear more flamboyant hats? Turn her into their version of a Winnebago?
Oh, by the way, Fusella’s name is not bold face in the character section.
It’s like that old (Asimov, I think?) story where killing a single butterfly in the age of the dinosaurs ends up changing the whole future….
I think that was Ray Bradbury. While the “butterfly” was certainly killed, there’s not an interval of millions of years to magnify the change. The arrival of the Galaxion and the survey team on the planet could be the biggest factors in changing what has been happening to this place and these people. The ship didn’t crash, like the Hiawatha, so even if the survey team is overwhelmed and taken there’s still the people on Galaxion to deal with the situation.
Yep. Bradbury. Not sure of the story’s title, though…
Great, now when Spring comes, I will find myself running screaming from butterflies!!
Finally down to the nitty-gritty and things come full circle. Like 1 + 1 = 4 !
‘I saw a butterfly, flutter by…. ‘
‘I saw a Mie.. ‘ .. nope, just not going to work…
Eli.