Random Notes on The Myriad
Oct. 27th, 2012 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowYesterday, I had to do quite a bit of shopping after work, so I left my shoulderbag (and its books) at home, instead carrying a pocket-book - by which I mean a book small enough to fit in my trouser pocket. I chose to begin rereading R. M. Meluch's The Myriad, the first book in the Tour of the Merrimack series. I've already reviewed the book once before, but on this reading a couple of items have snagged my attention.
First, a grumble. As the Merrimack approaches the T'Arra system, the captain is upset: "John Farragut could not get an answer to a question as simple as how three planets separated by ten, twenty, and forty-three light years were communicating." Brownie points for anyone who can pick out why that sentence bugs me.
Second, a puzzlement. Later, after the disappearance of Alpha Flight1, Augustus is pessimistic: "Their oxygen is running out right now. Dakota Shepard is an air sucker. He's already out. The women might last two more hours. After that, they're the sky pilot's flight." I've only encountered the phrase "sky pilot" in one other place, the song of that title sung by the Animals. There, it refers to a military chaplain. My first impression of Augustus's comment was that he's referring to God; on reconsidering, I can see that he might mean "chaplain", but it's not clear. In any case, it's military slang; any of the ex-military on my FL (or in my family...) care to comment?
1. No, not that Alpha Flight. This is part of the Merrimack's complement of fighters.
First, a grumble. As the Merrimack approaches the T'Arra system, the captain is upset: "John Farragut could not get an answer to a question as simple as how three planets separated by ten, twenty, and forty-three light years were communicating." Brownie points for anyone who can pick out why that sentence bugs me.
Second, a puzzlement. Later, after the disappearance of Alpha Flight1, Augustus is pessimistic: "Their oxygen is running out right now. Dakota Shepard is an air sucker. He's already out. The women might last two more hours. After that, they're the sky pilot's flight." I've only encountered the phrase "sky pilot" in one other place, the song of that title sung by the Animals. There, it refers to a military chaplain. My first impression of Augustus's comment was that he's referring to God; on reconsidering, I can see that he might mean "chaplain", but it's not clear. In any case, it's military slang; any of the ex-military on my FL (or in my family...) care to comment?
1. No, not that Alpha Flight. This is part of the Merrimack's complement of fighters.
