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Summary
Part Three, Chapters 28-29
Chapter 28: Hydrogen Burning in the Heart of the Sun
Citra is revived and Curie informs her that she and Rowan both lost the match, since Citra was losing before Rowan’s disqualification. Citra remains disturbed by the cold look on Rowan’s face when he broke her neck, and Curie reluctantly informs her that he seemed unmoved even afterward. She warns Citra again that Rowan is no longer the person she remembers.
Meanwhile, Goddard is giddy over Rowan’s performance, throwing a lavish party in his honor. Before the festivities, Volta tells Rowan that Citra has recovered and warns him not to intentionally lose the apprenticeship to her. Rowan secretly wonders whether he can still spare Citra by gleaning himself if he does win. During the party, Goddard fawns over Rowan to everyone, and Rowan has trouble hating someone who pays him so much attention. Rowan continues pondering Citra’s insinuation that Goddard killed Faraday. He still cannot bring himself to believe it because he has never seen Goddard break any Commandments. The only thing Goddard breaks with is tradition.
Xenocrates, the MidMerican High Blade, attends the party and is visibly uncomfortable. Rowan is also shocked to see his friend Tyger, who has become a professional partier. He is horrified when Tyger asks if he can intercede to help him get a high-paying gig as a live subject for scythe killcraft training. Volta eavesdrops as Goddard and Xenocrates converse. Xenocrates questions the ostentatious lifestyle Goddard leads and references Goddard as having been his apprentice, something he now regrets. He then makes a cryptic reference that Citra will soon no longer be a problem. Volta notes that Xenocrates becomes noticeably uncomfortable when Goddard introduces him to Esme. Though only Volta and Xenocrates can see him, Goddard threatens Esme with a knife, which causes Xenocrates to reluctantly jump into the pool, nearly drowning himself in his gold finery. Rowan and Tyger save him, and Rowan discerns that Xenocrates is lying when he claims he fell into the pool accidentally. Despite being unaware of what happened, Rowan pieces together that Goddard made Xenocrates jump and must therefore have a lot of power over him.
Afterward, Goddard falsely insists Xenocrates fell into the pool and turns the subject to Tyger, whose superficial foolishness greatly irritates Rowan. Rowan asks Goddard about the rumors that another scythe killed Faraday. Goddard correctly deduces that Citra told Rowan this, and he denies it while also threatening Citra’s family and Tyger. Rowan is unconvinced, and, during a game of pool, he tells Volta he now thinks Goddard may have killed Faraday after all. He also learns that Esme is Xenocrates’ illegitimate daughter, which is why Goddard has so much leverage over him.
Rowan journal entry
In an uncharacteristic fit of honesty, Rowan rails against bloodthirsty scythes like Goddard. He then throws the page away and writes another entry that praises Goddard’s training methods. He cryptically references how he saved his friend’s life during practice on live targets in which he only received twelve bullets for twelve human targets, insinuating that Goddard put Tyger among the group of people Rowan had to practice on.
Chapter 29: They Call It Prison
Citra shares her suspicions with Curie concerning Faraday’s death, after which Curie warns her that telling Rowan means that Goddard almost certainly knows of her accusation. Curie orders Citra to let her take over the investigation so that Citra can focus on her training. BladeGuards arrest Citra the next day when Curie is out. They handcuff her and inform her she has been accused of murdering Faraday, before bringing her to Xenocrates. Xenocrates accuses her of tampering with the backbrain to obscure her activities, and he produces one of Faraday’s journal entries that suggests Faraday feared Citra. Xenocrates also informs her that the potential witnesses to Faraday’s death have disappeared and received immunity from Faraday’s own ring. After accusing her of operating for a tone cult, Xenocrates threatens her with torture if she doesn’t sign a confession. Citra will be held in a mortal-age structure called prison until Rowan can glean her at the next Conclave. Rather than signing, Citra fights off Xenocrates and Scythe Mandela, who admires her spirit, and jumps off Xenocrates’ skyscraper home. Nimbus agents, law enforcement officers who work within the Thunderhead’s authority, claim temporary jurisdiction over Citra while she is deadish, which infuriates Xenocrates.
Analysis
The juxtaposition of multiple limited third-person points of view helps further develop the characters while also heightening the suspense of their conflicts. Rowan has not succumbed entirely to Goddard’s nihilistic, murderous worldview. However, neither Citra nor Curie can know this. Since they are not privy to his internal monologue, thoughts he does not even feel safe recording in his journal, they can only interpret his behavior. The resulting tension from how badly they misread Rowan adds a heightened sense of conflict to the story as the Winter Conclave, where one of the apprentices must glean the other, approaches. Volta’s limited third-person perspective during the party serves a similar purpose. Volta remains a secondary character in the story, but his point of view is vital for conveying the layered mystery between Xenocrates and Goddard while also fleshing out his own personality. Most importantly, his eavesdropping on their conversation conveys information that even Rowan is not aware of. Rowan’s ability to deduce the true story from his later conversation with Volta also reinforces that Rowan is a very perceptive young man.
The conversation between Xenocrates and Goddard relies heavily on classical references, many of which symbolically reinforce Goddard’s bloodthirst. In their talk, Goddard tells Xenocrates his house is more like Nero’s Palace rather than the Forum, to which an uncomfortable Xenocrates responds it should not turn into the Colosseum. Here, Goddard is comparing two very different classical locales: in ancient Rome, the Forum was where day-to-day political business occurred, whereas Nero’s palace was home to the notoriously murderous, insane, spendthrift Roman Emperor. In their talk, Goddard explicitly identifies himself with a historic madman rather than with a place of civilized debate, acknowledging his own murderous intent. When Xenocrates references the Colosseum, where Romans gleefully watched gladiators kill each other, Goddard doesn’t deny the comparison. Again, Goddard signals his dangerous philosophy. This talk sheds more light on the mysterious Xenocrates, who, despite being blackmailed into doing Goddard’s bidding, disagrees with the other man’s worldview. The conversation also exposes Goddard’s essential hypocrisy about humanity. Though he often exults in his perceived superiority over mankind, he clearly finds ancient Roman culture far more relatable than his own futuristic society and signals his own malignant personality by being far more interested in the darker sides of Roman history rather than any of its more admirable qualities.
The lack of a functional legal system in the post-mortal world calls into question how perfect and fair life really is in Scythedom. According to conventional thinking, the Thunderhead has abolished crime, so there is no need for outdated mortal legal systems. On one hand, this means Citra is unaware of the unpleasant possibility of being handcuffed or imprisoned since there is no need to restrain prisoners in this society. On the other hand, it also means she’s subject to a miscarriage of justice: she isn’t advised to retain an attorney, nor is she notified of her rights. An accused person’s rights are a relic of the mortal age, and the fact that these rights no longer exist leaves Citra at the mercy of the corrupt Xenocrates. This world is not entirely without legal concepts, though. As the bitter debate between Xenocrates and the Nimbus agents reveals, complicated delineations of jurisdiction do exist between Scythedom and the Thunderhead. In this society, people are so disinterested that they let the ruling systems function without oversight, provided they can agree on who has jurisdiction. However, the apathy this attitude breeds is dangerous and is precisely what allows Xenocrates to unfairly sentence Citra to prison and empowers Goddard to act with impunity.
Goddard’s justifications for his sadism indicate the dangers of following the letter of the law rather than the spirit. Much of Goddard’s defense of his actions centers on how nothing he does, from the mass gleanings to the opulent luxury he enjoys, is technically illegal. According to him, he’s just breaking custom rather than any Commandments. By any moral standard, Goddard’s behavior is inherently unethical and wrong—he relishes cruelty and murder, he takes advantage of others, and he holds a child hostage to blackmail her father. His actions repeatedly demonstrate his inherent unfitness to be a scythe, regardless of whether or not he murdered Faraday. Goddard dances around what the law actually requires, including mercy and personal sacrifice, and justifies his violation of those rules by pointing to technicalities instead. Though the combination of the Thunderhead’s neutrality concerning scythes and Scythedom’s own vague rules ostensibly protects him, it does not justify or excuse his actions. Furthermore, that others choose to shrug off Goddard’s actions because he is not technically violating any Commandment is precisely what emboldens him.
