A Farewell to R.M.S. (short story)
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
- House Bluewood is mentioned as a Great House to which the Lord might belong, alongside House Tracolix.
- The Lord angrily mentions possessing a "…generation unit" when the Bookkeeper shows him disrespect, asking him if he's a "just a House Military bitch"; this prompts the Bookkeeper to apologise and acknowledge him as a Lord.
- The Plume Coteries are shown to rely on the books in their Library; they colonised R.M.S. in the first place because the Library had foretold that they should, and it is through "[their] books" that they have heard of the Houseworlders' recent efforts of diplomatic outreach.
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.
Continuity
- Roger's Magic Sphere had a different name before the Bookkeepers were called "Bookkeepers". This name was shown to be "the Revelatory Majestic Sphere" in PROSE: A Farewell to Arms [+]Loading...["A Farewell to Arms (short story)"].
- Members of the Bookkeepers used to be smaller back when they were still called the Plume Coteries, a fact also alluded to in PROSE: Cobweb and Ivory [+]Loading...["Cobweb and Ivory (short story)"], A Farewell to Arms [+]Loading...["A Farewell to Arms (short story)"].
- The Bookkeeper asks if the Great Houses' ambassador represents House Tracolix or the House Military, two powers introduced in (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"] and prominently featured in other Faction Paradox media.
- The Houses ambassador says something that Roger hears as "generation unit" when questioned about his status as a Lord. TV: Regeneration [+]Loading...["Regeneration (TV story)"] showed that after his time on Gallifrey, K9 Mark I had been fitted with a "regeneration unit" which, as its name implied, allowed him to regenerate.
- The Bookkeepers' books have told them that the Houses have been making agreements with several other powers; such negotiations include their deal with the "machine people" as seen in PROSE: Dead Romance [+]Loading...["Dead Romance (novel)"] and their negotiations with the Dæmons, Osirians, and even Faction Paradox in such stories as PROSE: Alien Bodies [+]Loading...["Alien Bodies (novel)"], PROSE: T. memeticus: A Morphology [+]Loading...["T. memeticus: A Morphology (short story)"], and AUDIO: Body Politic [+]Loading...["Body Politic (audio story)"].
- The Houses possess technology to "pluck people from tim", which the Bookkeepers want to be let in on. Examples of it include the Time Scoop first seen in TV: The Five Doctors [+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"] and the extraction chambers seen in TV: Hell Bent [+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"].
External links
- Official A Farewell to R.M.S. page at Obverse Books
References
- ↑ 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.
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