The "Marionettes" Novellas
by Adam-Troy Castro

Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted October 10, 2023

"It was in the third year of my indentured servitude that I rescued Isadora from the death-dance of the Marionettes."

So begins "The Funeral March of the Marionettes," a novella originally appearing in the July 1997 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It later appeared in only one collection, which is out of print, but more on that later. It is the first story in a sequence the author has dubbed the AIsource Infection Universe. Without doing a lot more research, including interviewing the author, I can't say how much of the concept he had worked out in his head at that time. The character Andrea Cort is not in these stories, but she is part of the overall series, her first appearance coming five years later, before the second of these novellas. Funeral March takes place on the planet Vlhan, which I know was mentioned at least once in another story or novel I have already read, but either the dance of the Vlhani was not mentioned, or I didn't understand the reference.

As to the phrase used in the opening sentence, the majority of people living within the Homo Sapiens Confederacy are indentured servants, contracted for a specific number of years, which of course could be extended to a longer period depending on performance, or very rarely reduced to a lesser term. Industry and profit drives everything, which is evident in the fact that both the prevailing language, and time designations, are identified as Hom.Sap Mercantile. The story is told in first-person by a man who says, "My name was Alex Gordon then. On Vlhan, I was a twenty-two-year old exolinguist, born and raised in the wheelworld known as New Kansas." Due to the events on Vlhan he would later change his name, maybe his appearance, and get as far as possible from that planet, perhaps even somewhere outside of Hom.Sap space. The Marionettes of the title is but one of the terms others use for the Vlhani; some call them spiders, Isadora calls them buggies. Their "head," if you can call it that, since it has no discernible eyes, ears, or mouth, is a shiny black sphere about a meter in diameter. Their "arms and legs" are also known as whips. They usually use three or four of them as leg support, with the others waved around and above them, and it is believed that is how they communicate with each other. The combined efforts of many other sentient species had not been able to decipher that language, nor had anyone been able to decide what their death-dance signified, other than a possible religious ritual.

Even if it was religious in origin, it may also be a form of population control. Every year, however long that is, a group of ten thousand Vlhani come to the amphitheater to dance themselves to death. The tips of their many whips are very sharp, so the ritual consists of them waving their whips around, eventually cutting into those around them, maybe even cutting themselves. The Bursteeni were the first other sentient group to discover the planet, and over the years the Tchi, the Riirgaan, Hom.Sap, and others established embassies there, always witnessing the dance, powerless or unwilling to stop it, and also unable to figure out its meaning. Recordings of the dance were popular everywhere, some even considering it beautiful art. This time was different though. Just as the ceremony was beginning, Alex spots a human woman among the Marionettes. He and the Riirgaan Ambassador board a skimmer to attempt a rescue, which Isadora doesn't want. She wants to participate in the dance, fully aware it means her death. Alex does manage to extract her by putting himself in danger and forcing her to decide if she wants his death on her conscience. It is later learned the Vlhani had welcomed her, and they are not pleased that she had been removed from the proceedings.

Isadora had been surgically, maybe even genetically, modified in order to participate in the dance. Her arms and legs could stretch to great lengths, and they were more articulate than mere human limbs, able to at least mimic the whip waving of the Vlhani. The Hom.Sap Ambassador wants to know the how and where and by whom she was modified, but Isadora won't reveal that information. She eventually talks to Alex, even though he is puzzled about what she says, and since he doesn't understand the purpose of the dance he is sure she is merely suicidal. But that is a lot of preparation just to kill yourself, so maybe she is on to something. The dance is further elaborated in the other stories, so I'll hold off on that for now.

Both "Funeral March" and "Tangled Strings" were finalists for the Nebula, with "Funeral" also on the ballots for Hugo and Locus awards, with "Tangled" on the shortlist for a Sturgeon.

"The Tangled Strings of the Marionettes" came six years later, in the July 2003 issue of F&SF. I think it takes place three or four years after the first story, and this time the first-person narrator is Paul Royko, a "slinger" and neurec (neurological recording) producer. Slingers are similar to old-style newspaper reporters, stringers, who would go out into the field to find stories and conduct interviews, then transmit them back to the publisher. Paul is there to record the dance, but before that to also interview Shalakan, the latest human to enter the Vlhani death-dance. Her husband Dalmo had also been enhanced, but not selected by the Vlhani as a participant. Something about the neurological connection to his new limbs prohibits him from moving fluidly, and with the speed necessary to keep up with the Marionettes. Paul's guide is another human, Ch'tpok, but she considers herself a Riirgaan now, her parents having defected to them when she was a child. Even though they renounced their decision later, she stayed with a good friend, and surrogate father, the Riirgaan Ambassador Hurr'poth. She recurs in the third story, but Hurr'poth is the only one to be in all three.

Royko is puzzled as to why everyone seems to consider Dalmo the more important of the couple, even though he would not be participating in the dance. Supposedly he had better insight into what the dance was about, hoping to transfer that knowledge to Shalakan for her performance. The Hom.Sap Ambassador is just as furious about the situation as his predecessor, actually more so, since now there are hundreds of humans coming to Vlhan every year, vying for the opportunity to die in the amphitheater. Who would go to the trouble and the expense of enhancing that many people, and why? The AIsource is a prime suspect, in my mind at least, even if it is just the rogue faction of AIs, the ones Andrea Cort calls her unseen demons. If so, they are not alone, which we discover in the third story.

The out of print collection I mentioned above was Tangled Strings, which included the first two Marionettes novellas, plus "Unseen Demons" (the first appearance of Andrea Cort), along with a novella only tangential to the sequence, and another unrelated story. It must have had a small print run, and the least expensive copy that comes up in a search now is around $60, more than twice as much as when it was first published, and that is before tax and any shipping charge. For anyone interested, search for ISBN 9780786253425. I know there is significant lead time between the acceptance of a story and its publication, whether that be in magazine or book form. The collection came out in August 2003, just a month after the F&SF issue that contained "Tangled Strings," so it had to have been contracted around the same time the magazine accepted the story. The author says the third Marionettes novella was written later in that decade, but never published. I'm not sure why it wasn't accepted by F&SF, considering the way they praised the first two. Maybe an editor change, but that's a moot point now.

"The Knives That Carve the Marionettes" is included in the currently available e-book of The Third Claw of God, the second Andrea Cort novel. The author's intro says some of it was incorporated into the back-story of two characters in that novel, but I guessed wrong as to who that would be. I mentioned Jason and Jelaine Bettelhine in my review of that novel, but didn't reveal too much about them. Jason was the heir-apparent to his father Max's corporate empire, but had left Xana some years before, experiencing some traumatic events on a backwater planet (or maybe it was an orbital habitat), but then returned home the prodigal son. Everyone else welcomed him back, doing their best not to criticize him for leaving, and not dwelling on any of his experiences. All but his sister Jelaine that is, who is furious at him for neglecting her on his return, but also feeling guilty since she knew what he had planned, but kept the promise of not telling anyone he was leaving. He convinces her there is one more thing he needs to do, and asks for her help. While on Deriflys, Jason had met and fallen in love with Harille. Keeping the secret from him, Harille had arranged to be enhanced to be a dancer on Vlhan. Jason witnessed some of that transformation, but since he had no interest in going to Vlhan to dance, and those doing the enhancements knew that, they refused to let him join her in that process. He was returned to Xana before her enhancements were complete.

The Confederacy had made it as difficult as possible for anyone to travel to Vlhan, although those of the Bettlehine's status have ways of circumventing any restrictions. Jason and Jelaine go to Vlhan to find out if Harille had ever made it there, and whether she had been chosen for the dance. He cares enough about her to get that information after the fact, to satisfy his curiousity, even though he was already aware that his love for her was not reciprocated. While there he meets Hurr'poth and Ch'tpok, but is unable to get satisfactory answers to his questions, nor will Hurr'poth acknowledge he had previously met Jason on the ship where Harille underwent her enhancements. Ch'tpok does take him to an encampment created by other hopeful, and I suppose previously unsuccessful, dance candidates. He also encounters several Vlhani, who seem to know why he is there. They may remember Harille. It is possible it was mentioned before, but in that scene he observes the Vlhani's "legs" didn't always touch the ground, instead hovering just a bit above it. The way they held their other "arms" above them, and the fact they could stretch themselves to be as much as thirty meters above him, they appeared to be controlled by something above them in the clouds. At one point in Third Claw Andrea does use the word marionette (not captialized), but I assumed she was referring to her unseen demons being the ones pulling the strings. She has to have been aware of the Vlhani and their dance, but perhaps she didn't mean them, otherwise that word would have been capitalized.

The rest of my comments are going to be mainly speculation, and I doubt I will edit this after reading other stories. What I think was revealed about the dance is that every year something new was added to the sequence, and that something new was like one frame of a motion picture. The purpose of the dance might not be completely understood until the end, when the entire "movie" could be seen, which could be many millennia later. Or, since the third Andrea Cort novel is War of the Marionettes, maybe they won't get the chance to complete it. Then again, is it a war started by the Marionettes against all the other species, or is it a war directed toward them, and if so by whom, and which side will Hom.Sap be on? It was also revealed, or maybe just speculated, which may or may not be confirmed later, but Isadora was not the first human to dance with the Vlhani, just the first one noticed and recorded. It hadn't been that many years since Hom.Sap had built their embassy there, but I'm uncertain when neurecs of the dance were circulated throughout known space. How did the Vlhani realize that humans might make a useful contribution to the message, or was it someone, something, else? Could it be possible humans had been coming to Vlhan for nearly eight thousand years? If true, Jason notes that is twice as long a time between his present and when Armstrong took that small step and giant leap. That would have to mean humans had been kidnapped from Earth as early as 2000BC. By whom? For what reason? If it has been mentioned how old the AIsource is I missed it.

I realize this has been my typical mostly a synopsis, less of a review, but I hope I haven't revealed too many details. The Vlhani are a most peculiar species, as weird as any aliens I can recall right now, and several of the humans and other species are no less weird. It takes a remarkable writer to create such a scenario and get the reader to accept it as something possible. Castro is also good at delving into the psyche of the human characters, their hopes and dreams, as well as their frustrations and failures. I chose to read these stories before the third novel, and I may read another novella before that. Castro appears to be very comfortable, and talented, at novella length. "A Stab of the Knife" shows Andrea after the second novel, after she leaves Xana, but other than that I don't know the plot. It also features another character I haven't encountered yet, Draiken, apparently a spy, or ex-spy, but for whom I'm not sure. That will lead into War of the Marionettes, which I will read some time next month. Everything I've read so far in this series is well-written and exciting, with intriguing puzzles and mysteries. Too bad the first two Marionettes are not in print, but I tracked down used copies of the magazines, which may still be available direct from the publisher, although I got them by other means. Recommended.

Related links:
Adam-Troy Castro's own Andrea Cort/AIsource Chronology, updated whenever a new story is published.
The Andrea Cort Novellas and Other Stories.
The Andrea Cort Novels.

 

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