A Farewell to R.M.S. (short story)

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A Farewell to R.M.S. was the eighth promotional short story released in The Book of the Peace Dossier, tying in with the similarly-titled A Farewell to Arms from The Book of the Peace proper.

Summary

Roger, the leader of the planet R.M.S., has agreed to a meeting with a representative of the Great Houses to discuss their offer to up and by the entire planet. The Plume Coteries, the posthuman group who originally colonised the planet and later donated it to Roger's kind as an apology for accidentally wrecking their homeworld, offered to act as mediators. Roger is disappointed when the Plume Coteries envoy, whom she'd been awaiting for years, finally arrives: he is much taller than Roger expected, and arrives in a spherical diplomatic craft instead of on the back of the legendary giant birds. The Houses' representative is equally unexpected, appearing as a small, silver creature rather than something more impressive. Moreover, Roger's ears, accustomed to underwater sounds, prove unable to understand the Lord's tinny synthetic speech, making it difficult for her to follow the ensuing conversation between the Bookkeeper and Lord, during which it becomes apparent that the Bookkeepers are happy to let the Houses have R.M.S. in exchange for the ability to pluck individuals from Time. Roger, a giant walrus with little concept of the advanced technology both other parties wield, remains broadly unconcerned because she's convinced that her much greater size and physical strength will prove enough to overrule the two "little men" if she doesn't like their conclusions.

Characters

Worldbuilding

Notes

  • Author Nate Bumber expounded on some of the references in the story in a blog post on Tumblr[1]. Among others, he clarified the intended, copyright-skirting implication that the Lord is none other than K9 Mark I, purportedly confirming that he was officially recognised as a Time Lord after moving to Gallifrey in The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)"] and being granted regeneration as seen in Regeneration [+]Loading...["Regeneration (TV story)"].

The obtuse description of the Great House representative – a whirring silver creature which cocks its head and speaks in a buzzy voice about its generation unit – and the Bookkeeper's description of it as a "House Military bitch" and instruction to "sit" – might seem extraneously crude. But I promise there's a very good reason.Nate Bumber

Continuity

External links

References

  1. Nate Bumber (7 August 2020). References in my “Book of the Peace Dossier” stories. On the Fringes of War. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023.