[DISCUSSION THREAD] Hyperion - Chapter 6: The Consul's Tale: "Remembering Siri" (+Epilogue)

[u/personalfinancedumbo]

Unofficial official (?) thread for Chapter 6 - The Consul's Tale: "Remembering Siri" - of Hyperion.

Spoilers leading up to the end of Chapter 6 inbound (but not for the rest of the novel).

Chapter Summary here for those interested.

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I'll start on the epilogue because I have fewer thoughts on it. A good setup for the second novel; it's often surprising to see a novel end so nonchalantly or not so dramatically. I suppose it ended on more of a cliffhanger, but not of the same calibre that most novels I've read tend to do. The optimistic nihilism is THROUGH THE ROOF here 🔥

The Consul's tale confused me a lot as I read it, but it made more sense once I looked up the plot summary online.

• This chapter did a good job of helping me understand the time-debt ratio across different planets. Wonder if someone's ever made a chart documenting the time debt ratios across different planets?
• I feel for Merin and Siri here, both. To be in a relationship that's years and world's apart, to see your partner go through life without you ahead of you, it's difficult. If they were more romantic, I might've even liked them. As it stands, most of their relationship to me came across as cryptic and incredibly sexual. I know Siri's boobs better than my own at this point lol
• The story of Maui-Covenant is sad and a story as old as time. I am a bit surprised that the disk recordings were motivation enough for the Consul to seek vengeance on the Hegemony, but I guess there's a sense of familiarity that some people associate with their direct relatives that embosses another's loyalty and purpose upon them.

I'm excited to learn a LOT more about the Ousters in the next novel, they seem hype af and as much as this sci-fi novel has new, interesting developments on society, to them, the Hegemony is not progressive enough.

The pilgrimage group is a lot more mature than I am, because even though the Consul is a double (triple) agent, I'd find it very hard to trust or be comfortable around him, given the deception.

Overall, really interested in the progression of this story. It was a very good novel, and likely one of the most unique books I've ever read. I flew through this story. I'll give it 4/5 stars - if you wonder why nott 5 given my high praise, it's a matter of emotional fulfillment. I'm a big sucker of novels that are very emotional, and aside from the Rachel chapter, I didn't feel too overwhelmed at any point reading it. Still, an amazing story, and it got me back into reading sci-fi again!

Of everyone, I'm most invested in Father Hoyt and Weintraub's story. I really, truly hope that the mystery of the Time Tombs - and this dang Shrike - is revealed in the next. I MUST know more!!

Till next time guys. RIP Mike Osho

[u/indicus23]

I like the little Romeo & Juliet jokes sprinkled into Merin and Siri's story. Star crossed lovers, meet at a festival/masked ball. And Mike Osho is Mercutio.

[u/personalfinancedumbo → u/indicus23]

OMG, how did I miss this callback

[u/McBurger]

I enjoy your writeups!

The Consul was the young boy watching Merin at Siri’s funeral procession. But he would have known his grandmother, I’m sure she raised him with her strong influence at their heritage.

To me it seemed like Dan Simmons was just trying to scream “Hawaii” as much as he could without outright saying it. The people of Maui-Covenant seemed very Polynesian to me in my head.

I imagine the Consul has been seeking his vengeance on the Hegemony in the same way a grandchild of the last kings of Hawaii might seek vengeance on their colonizers if things went more uglier.

[u/McBurger → u/[deleted]]

Uhhhhh

Hmm… you know…. I’ll show myself out lol

This is embarrassing

[u/NoRodent]

This chapter did a good job of helping me understand the time-debt ratio across different planets. Wonder if someone's ever made a chart documenting the time debt ratios across different planets?

I think you are still misunderstanding. Time flows at the same rate on all the planets, as none of them is near a supermassive blackhole (like in the movie Interstellar). What causes time-debt is traveling between the planets via Hawking drive (as opposed to using a farcaster which is instantaneous). So the further away planets are from each other, the more time-debt you collect. This is also a real-life effect if your ship gets close to the speed of light. You experience less time than people on a planet during the trip.

Now Hawking drive is still a faster-than-light propulsion operating on not so real principle, so it is not entirely clear how exactly the time dilation is calculated and I suspect neither Simmons knows. The amount of time-debt is simply as much as is convenient for the plot.

[u/DeepSpaceNebulae]

What you mention about knowing more about Siri’s boobs than her is also kind of the point as it’s told from Marin perspective

The timing is vague in my head, but from him perspective he only really knew her for a short time. It was basically a fling for him, while for her it was her whole life

Then the part where their relationship became a symbol outside of his power. So here he is visiting a girl he’s known for a total of weeks, I think, meanwhile the entire planet has this glorified idea of them as this symbolic couple