Translation State

by Ann Leckie

Copyright © 2023 by Ann Leckie

2

3

4 p.

5

6 p. 153

7 p. 183

8 p. 217

9 p. 247 chs. 25-27

10 p. 279 chs. 28-30

11 p. 306

12 p. 335

13 p. 357

14 p. 385

15 p. 411

Athtur House,

2023. Bought for $10.60 on 9/7/24 to read for the Minneapolis Sci-Fi (and sometimes Fantasy) Book Club on 9/17/24 because the ebook wait list is too long at CLP, and the hard cover is too bulky to bring with me to SoCal this week. I have the first one, Ancillary Justice (2013), on this Kindle, but will read this one first, as it’s being discussed soon. P.S. Well worth the purchase. ToC is five swipes left or click on any chapter heading, but not terribly useful because it’s a repeating series of Enae, Reet, Qven, with no page numbers. (First, second, third person narrators.) The drop-down ToC has page numbers. https://www.meetup.com/minneapolis-sci-fi-sometimes-fantasy-book-club-meetup/events/302283033/?eventOrigin=your_events Cool way to receive and open messages and files. (Handhelds are also in use.) Apparently storage and access is not a problem. Haha. Her aliens have an alien-ness that is remarkable. Reet he/him/his - but is “he” even human? Enae sie/hir Mx. Athtur, Caphing Qven ? first person narration they / them? e/em/eir Reet’s Nana Tzam they/them Both Enae and Reet like coffee. 59 times. Good, bad, a running joke Hikipi social clubs - “terrorist organization”? > Contradictory feelings re: home and family: What Enae wanted to do was stay here, …. What Enae wanted to do was leave here…. p. 37 Reet had never been one of them. Never really wanted to be one of them. Except sometimes he had wanted to. p. 48 What was wrong with hir? Sie’d loved Grandmaman, and now she was dead, sie felt free of some pressing weight sie’d never noticed. Sie had hated Grandmaman, and had been too weak, too cowardly to leave and strike out on hir own, p. 66 Enae I wanted it …. I didn’t want this. p. 94. Qven He could avoid people. (He didn’t want to avoid people.) p. 138 Reet “It’s supposed to not matter, but it completely matters. Right?” p. 242 Reet to Qven And after all, what sort of person was sie, to be so ungrateful to the woman who had taken hir in, who had, in the end, made sure sie was cared for? The sort of person who had resented Grandmaman as much as sie had loved her, p. 314 “You know, going home doesn’t have to be permanent. But it’s nice to have someplace to come back to, where you’re welcome and safe.” p. 413 > Can history ever be objective? “Those stories—you know, when people have power, they can do terrible things. But also, people who hate them can twist things around or exaggerate, and make them sound worse than they are.” p. 49 > Identity: “Just be careful. And no matter what, you don’t have to be what they want you to be.” But what if I am anyway? he thought. p. 51 “[Reet] realized that he had not once, all night, imagined himself eating any of the people in the room. Was it the songs? Was it that Reet had, finally, found the place where he belonged?” Like a member of A.A. p. 83 “Reet should stay far, far away from this, away from the Siblings of Hikipu and whatever mess they were entangled with. And where would that leave him? Back in his tiny room, alone. Not that he didn’t still spend plenty of time there, solitary. But these past months he’d belonged somewhere, known all this time that there was somewhere he’d come from, somewhere his quirks were recognized. He hadn’t realized until he’d found it just how much, how badly, he’d needed that.” p. 112 “But what would that mean, exactly, to discover that you belonged with aliens? That you were not, in fact, quite as human as you’d supposed?” p. 130 “In certain circumstances, a human could choose what species they belonged to.” p. 132 Reet: “you’d think I’d be happy to find out what I am but… I always thought I was human! And it’s not like I don’t want to be what I am, because that’s just pointless, … And, I mean, why can’t I be both?” p. 245 Qven: “I had begun to think that maybe it would be nice to have a gender, like Reet did, the way a lot of characters in Pirate Exiles seemed to, but I wasn’t sure how that would work. ‘I think I am e now, and not they,’ I said. ‘Or I would like to try being e.’” Reet: “Plenty of people change around until they find what suits them best,” he went on. “Or never settle on one in particular.” p. 270 “Reet doesn’t want to be me,” I said. “No one does. I don’t, sometimes.” p. 408 “it’s strange and a bit disturbing to see them now. But this is what they are, and if they’re happy…” p. 413 > Dealing with autocracy: “authorities had a way of finding problems where there weren’t any, when it suited them.” p. 88 “Surely they can’t hold Mr Hluid like this with no communication.” “No, they can’t,” the jurist agreed. “Not legally.” p. 157 > Aid and comfort to terrorists is not always easy to determine: Reet had always known that there was some flow of money and even weapons from Zeosen System to Kerosine. He had assumed, if he’d thought about it at all, that the Siblings of Hikipu were, for the most part, very careful to avoid such associations. That the various charities collected for were (for the most part) legitimately humanitarian. p. 110 “Are you so naïve?” asked Ambassador Seimet, with contempt. “Surely you’re aware that a group like the Siblings of Hikipu is part of a network that funnels funds and other kinds of support to Hikipi insurgents, who use those funds and support to deal death and damage throughout Keroxane System.” p. 370 > Prejudice. Against the Chirra: “Ah. Mr Schan’s family”—Mr Nadkal leaned on that word, doubt or maybe contempt in his tone—“is Chirra. So…” He gestured vaguely. “You know.” p. 154 > The underlying ambiguity of discerning moral action: “How do I know what you say is true?” I asked. “Words can say things that don’t exist.” p. 176 “sometimes the only way to save everyone else is for someone to sacrifice themselves—or others—to secure the rest of the habitat.” “You think I should sacrifice myself to save everyone,” I said. “Wait, I’m not finished. The problem is, sometimes sacrificing yourself is the wrong thing. Sometimes a sacrifice won’t really save anyone. The problem is, when someone comes to you and says only you can save us by sacrificing yourself, how do you know they’re right?” p. 354 “Gender,” said Translator Dlar, “is a thing humans have.” “Some humans,” replied Reet. “And I’m one of them.” p. 205 Singing seeds and plants that Qven can hear, doors they can see - and open - spaces they can feel, things that are *not here*. Presger Translators were… put together from material taken from human ships and stations that they’d disassembled. p. 220 Humans are the only species who shows sympathy by apologizing. “I’m sorry.” Other human traits, e.g., sarcasm, Reet and Qven bond over a space opera tv series. And making a tent.for their sleepovers. Qven didn’t cry for no reason, not that Reet had seen so far. No one did, really, in Reet’s experience. The climax, pp. 393 ff., is exciting but also very funny. QUESTIONS: Delight in vivisection - Reet, Presger translators - source and meaning? Both Reet and Qven want to open people up? Chilling Treaty binds the all-powerful Presger - what’s in it for them? Are they really all-powerful? Why is the missing translator called a “fugitive”? Escape vs. fled. The two republics machines - provenance and constitution? Why does Sphrene want a bio-mech? p. 256 Sphene’s associate among the Presger Translators, Dlique p. 417; and its cousins - other AIs? VOCABULARY: the ghost door the sloth tax (Reet) qualifying work (Reet) match (Qven) creepy anfractuous purposes genemodding poick skel gate space first aid correctives

the ghost door

Enae

It was only Enae who had actually lived in the house with Grandmaman, Enae who, one might think, would be the most affected by Grandmaman’s death.

Sie’d stood silent

and stood silent

said nothing when,

Sie had remained silent when

fifty-six years old

Ann Leckie was born in 1966, thus she was 56 while writing this.

Sie had walked on past

the Athturs

Enae was worse. Nearly sixty and no career, no friends, no lovers, no marital partners, no children.

had not said that when

That...

Zemil Igoeto,”

Zemil Athtur.”

Enae wasn’t sure if sie wanted to laugh or not, but the fact was, Grandmaman would very much have enjoyed this moment

“Mx Athtur

Mx (/mɪks, məks/ is an English-language neologistic honorific that does not indicate gender. Created as an alternative to gendered honorifics (such as Mr. and Ms.) in the late 1970s, it is the most common gender-neutral title among non-binary people and people who do not wish to imply a gender in their titles. The word was first proposed in the late 1970s. The x is intended to stand as a wildcard character, and does not necessarily imply a "mixed" gender. The full stop (period) is often used in Canada and the United States, but not in many other English-speaking countries.

I, the Blessed Deceased’s jurist,

“The Blessed Deceased wanted to be sure I told you that you’re all selfish and greedy, and she wishes she could be here to see you when you learn you’ve been cut off with nothing.

Enae felt the itch of a message arriving.

The whole world seemed unreal and uncertain, and sie wasn’t sure what would happen if sie moved too much.

Mx Athtur.

“Ms Athtur.”

I have had years to consider what that might mean, for both of us.”

“I wanted the name,” said Zemil. “I have wealth,

Grandmaman’s jurist

Nice.

“You think I’m cruel,” said Zemil. “Heartless. But I am only direct.

“I will do you no favors,” Zemil continued, “leaving you in any misapprehension or uncertainty.

one who so loyally cared for hir Grandmaman for so long, and rightfully ought to have inherited—in contrast with my false, purchased hold on the name.

you will take a position with the Office of Diplomacy.

You have been appointed Special Investigator, and a case has been assigned to you.

Radchaai!