Tripoint (novel)
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- For other uses, see Tripoint.
| Tripoint | |
 Tripoint, U.S. paperback edition, 1995 |
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| Author | C. J. Cherryh |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Warner Books |
| Publication date | September 1994 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 377 pp (Hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-446-51780-1 |
Tripoint is a science fiction novel written by the United States science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh, and was first published by Warner Books in September 1994. It is one of Cherryh's Merchanter novels and is set in the author's Alliance-Union universe.
Contents |
[edit] Background
In the Alliance-Union universe, Tripoint is an unstable mass of three points of "dark matter" moving around each other. Two of the points are a failed close binary star, while the third is a captured object, possibly from the Pell system. It was first charted and navigated in 2266, and serves as a staging jump-point on some of the commercial station-to-station "short-hops", for example, Pell–Viking and Pell–Mariner.
Because of its shifting mass resulting from the 3-body problem, Tripoint's position in spacetime drifts, making it troublesome for navigators, who have to rely on data from ships that have recently passed through the system. Tripoint is also a region where the brown radiation from the dark matter blots out what might be behind it, making it easy to lose ships, and to hide from other ships.
[edit] Plot summary
Twenty years in the past, merchanter ships Sprite and Corinthian were docked at Mariner Station. What started out as a friendly sleepover between the inexperienced Marie Hawkins of Sprite and Austin Bowe of Corinthian turned into rape, with Marie becoming pregnant. She elected to raise the child, Thomas Bowe-Hawkins, on Sprite, but was consumed with rage. Tom grew up, with an ambivalent mother, never fully accepted by his family. When Austin later became the senior captain of Corinthian, Marie started tracking Corinthian's movements in order to expose what she suspected was smuggling.
When the two ships cross paths again, this time at Viking, Marie is nearly ready for her revenge. She and Tom scour the docks for information about Corinthian's cargo, but Tom is caught snooping into their containers in a warehouse. He is imprisoned aboard Corinthian, forcing the ship to depart prematurely for Pell Station via Tripoint. During the jump, Tom meets his domineering father Austin and Capella, Corinthian's second chief navigator and night-walker. Sprite pursues, at Marie's insistence.
When Corinthian docks at Pell Station, Tom's younger half-brother, Christian Bowe-Perrault, tries to ship him off to Sol Station to get rid of a troublesome problem, but Tom escapes and hides. Christian and Capella spend their leave frantically searching for him (before Austin finds out), unaware that Sabrina Perrault-Cadiz, Christian's cousin, has already found and befriended him. When Capella contacts old acquaintances for help searching, it attracts the unwanted attention of a dissident faction within the outlawed Mazianni Fleet. Capella is an ex-Fleet navigator with knowledge of Fleet routes and drop-points, which the dissidents very much want.
When Corinthian prepares to depart for Tripoint, Tom returns voluntarily to the ship and is no longer treated as a prisoner. He learns the ship's secret: they are illegally trading with the renegade Fleet. Austin justifies this by maintaining that supplying the Fleet means it won't have to raid merchanter ships.
As Corinthian prepares for jump, she detects a Mazianni spotter. With little to no cargo, it can over-jump her and wait in ambush at Tripoint. Sprite arrives at Pell Station shortly after Corinthian has left. Marie realises the only way to overtake Corinthian is to depart unladen.
During the jump to Tripoint, Capella is aware of both the Mazianni spotter and Sprite and performs a premature system-drop near an abandoned freighter, causing the other ships to overshoot. Corinthian immediately starts frantically offloading to the freighter. As the spotter and Sprite approach, Tom and Christian activate the freighter's weapons, which then destroy the spotter.
Tom tells his mother he is staying with Corinthian because of his feelings for Sabrina and his growing friendship with Christian. He is more at home on his father's ship than his mother's. Marie, having taken the captaincy of Sprite from her weak brother, does not expose Corinthian's illegal trade because of Tom and because Corinthian outguns Sprite. Austin decides too many people know about his connection with the Fleet and leaves Alliance and Union space for good. As amends for the past, Austin offers Marie the security access codes to the hulk to enable her to take Corinthian's profitable place if she wants it, but she declines and the ships part company.
During Corinthian's next jump, Capella tells Tom about a new drop-point she discovered that leads to a habitable planet with forests. The Mazianni are building a new secret colony there and Corinthian is now part of that future.
[edit] Main characters
[edit] Crew of merchant ship Sprite
- Thomas Bowe-Hawkins – junior computer technician
- Marie Hawkins – cargo chief, Thomas' mother
- Mischa Hawkins – captain, Marie's brother
[edit] Crew of merchant ship Corinthian
- Christian Bowe-Perrault – officer, Thomas' half-brother
- Austin Bowe – captain, Thomas and Christian's father
- Beatrice Perrault – pilot, Christian's mother
- Sabrina Perrault-Cadiz – officer, Christian's cousin; she more or less raised him
- Capella – second chief navigator on loan to Corinthian from the Fleet
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Cherryh, C. J. Tripoint, Warner Aspect, 1994.
[edit] External links
- C. J. Cherryh's home page. Alliance/Union Chronology.
