Short Fiction · Chapter
V: Priam’s Maw explained
The chapter details the perspective of an Adjuster, Besplex Priam's Maw, as she responds to a temporal disturbance caused by Foraminifera 9-Hart Bailey's Beam, who brought advanced weapons into 20th-century New York.
What happens
The chapter details the perspective of an Adjuster, Besplex Priam's Maw, as she responds to a temporal disturbance caused by Foraminifera 9-Hart Bailey's Beam, who brought advanced weapons into 20th-century New York. Working alongside her father Alephplex, she helps quarantine the area, neutralize affected aboriginals, and prepare for the fabrication of simulacra to cover up the anachronisms.
Themes in this chapter
Technology and Dehumanization
Adjusters use advanced technology to neutralize and collapse humans, treating them as specimens to be replaced by simulacra, highlighting the dehumanizing effect of technological control.
Alienation and Identity
Besplex operates under a guise as a short-order cook, compiling anthropometric data while feeling tired and alienated from the aboriginals she observes.
Power and Corruption
The Central Authority's Adjusters wield immense power to quarantine and replace entire populations, suggesting a corrupt or indifferent oversight of temporal affairs.
Characters to notice
- Alephplex Priam
Besplex's father and fellow Adjuster; assists in setting up the quarantine shield and neutralizing aboriginals.
- Uncle Lester
An aboriginal who notices the portatron's alarm and compares it to a ringing bell, prompting Besplex to investigate.
- Foraminifera 9-Hart Bailey's Beam
The rogue time traveler who brought weapons into the era; captured and neutralized by Besplex.
Key passages
“Besplex Priam’s Maw, for God’s sake get me out of this!”
Foraminifera begs Besplex to rescue him from his predicament.
Foraminifera's plea reveals his desperation after being captured by aboriginals.
“I did not wait to hear what he wished to say further, but neutralized and collapsed him with the other aboriginals.”
Besplex immediately incapacitates the aboriginal without listening to his request.
Demonstrates the Adjusters' cold efficiency and disregard for individual pleas.
“We do not wish a repetition of the California incident, after all.”
The Adjusters aim to avoid another large-scale cover-up like the one in California.
References a prior event where the need for extensive simulacra replacement occurred.