Unexpected Consequences
Printed pages 108–121. Records documented in this chapter; later article sections may include subsequent events.
Showing introductory records. Switch to Full archive above to include later names and revelations.
Bombing of York
The Flaxens bombed York in retaliation for the penetration of their territory during Serilda's rescue. They deliberately concentrated on civilian population centers rather than military or government sites.
British Isles
The British Isles were the heart of United Earth's territory. A large Flaxen air raid crossed toward them from Africa and bombed York.
Camp Skadi
Camp Skadi is a Flaxen prison and forced-labor camp commanded by Colonel Jaakobah Flint. Its inmates endure hunger, disease, overcrowding, violence, and the threat associated with the red circles.
Camp Skadi executions after the extraction
After Flint's removal, Damien Senery resumed mass executions at Camp Skadi. Echo's bridge crew watched through satellite imagery as prisoners were forced into a heat chamber and killed.
Damien Scenery
Major Damien Scenery is a Flaxen officer serving under Colonel Jaakobah Flint at Camp Skadi. He is openly hostile toward the camp’s human and mixed-ancestry prisoners.
Death chambers
Flaxen death chambers were heat-based execution facilities used against captive Humans. Their operation depended on capacitors that required time to recharge.
Deflection lasers
Deflection lasers protect high-speed starships by detecting and vaporizing particles ahead of them. A collision with even a sand-sized object at the expedition's intended speeds could destroy a ship.
Dream influence
Serilda could influence other minds during sleep, introducing suggestions and memories and encountering their dreams. The effects could persist in a person's feelings and decisions without direct recall of the transferred memories.
Earth
Earth is humanity’s homeworld and the birthplace of United Earth. Almost ten thousand years after Echo’s departure, it is divided by the war against Flaxen conquest.
Earth reconnaissance satellites
Satellites remaining from before Echo's departure for Copious provided reconnaissance during its return to Earth. Echo reestablished communications with them and used their optical and infrared feeds to support military operations.
English Channel
The English Channel lay along the route followed by the Flaxen aircraft attacking York. The raiders approached it after fighting United Earth aircraft over Europe.
Europe
Europe is contemporary United Earth's political heartland and a principal target of Flaxen air attacks. United Earth retains all of Europe when Echo surveys the war.
Extraction from Camp Skadi
Hastings's Marines extracted Serilda Corazon and Megan from Camp Skadi in a covert night operation ordered by Captain Eastcott. The mission succeeded without friendly casualties or an alarm from the Flaxen garrison.
Flaxen Air Force
The Flaxen Air Force operated yellow-winged aircraft marked with a black glyph inside a white circle. Its fighters and bombers carried out the attack on York and the massacre of captives in Texas.
Flaxen emotional intensity
Serilda described Flaxen emotions as markedly more intense than those of other Humans. Their capacity for joy, love, and compassion existed alongside extreme hatred, envy, disgust, and pride.
Flaxen insignia
Flaxen insignia combined yellow, white, and black with a distinctive black glyph. Aircraft displayed the glyph inside a white circle on yellow wings, and combat knives bore it on yellow handles.
Flaxens
The Flaxens are the people of Venus who claim a separate and superior identity to humans. Their state wages a campaign of conquest on Earth.
France
France lay beneath the path of the Flaxen raid on York. Echo's bridge crew saw at least fifty Flaxen bombers brought down over France before the raiders approached the English Channel.
Helen Chute
Lieutenant Commander Helen Chute is Echo’s counselor. She supports the crew through the personal consequences of their displacement.
Humans
Humans are the people descended from Earth whose civilization spreads to Mars and Venus. The Flaxens claim to have surpassed them and deny their own humanity.
Human–Flaxen hybrids
Human–Flaxen hybrids are people with both human and Flaxen parentage. Some possess unusual mental abilities that contemporary United Earth uses in intelligence work.
Jaakobah Flint
Colonel Jaakobah Flint is the Flaxen commandant of Camp Skadi. He exercises authority over the camp’s guards and its imprisoned population.
Kip Eastcott
Captain Kip Eastcott commands Echo on the Copious expedition. A veteran of the war with Mars, he leads a crew far removed from the world they knew.
Lillet Corazon
Lillet Corazon is Serilda Corazon's human mother. She recognizes her daughter's mental abilities during childhood and keeps them secret.
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean lay beneath the Flaxen aerial force launched from Africa toward the British Isles. Echo tracked the raiders there before the opposing air forces engaged.
Megan
Megan is a human prisoner in Camp Skadi and Serilda Corazon’s closest companion. Seriously weakened by the camp’s conditions, she depends on Serilda’s care and shares her concern for their fellow prisoners.
Ostio Novicheck
Doctor Ostio Novicheck is Echo’s chief medical officer. He oversees the welfare of the expedition’s passengers and crew.
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean lay within Echo's direct line of sight when York was attacked. Earth's rotation prevented Echo from directly targeting the aircraft over Europe with its deflection lasers.
Serilda Corazon
Serilda Corazon is a woman of human and Flaxen parentage imprisoned at Camp Skadi. She cares for her friend Megan and the other occupants of hut seven while strange visions of a starship trouble her sleep.
Serilda's father
Serilda's father was a Flaxen regional colonel of the Corazon family. Once feared for his cruelty, he gradually became kinder under the influence of Serilda and her mother.
The Moon
The Moon is Earth's natural satellite. Echo uses its far side to conceal the ship's location while preparing contact with contemporary United Earth.
United Earth
United Earth is the human government resisting the Flaxen conquest of Earth. Its institutions include a presidency, armed forces, and intelligence services.
United Earth Air Ministry
The United Earth Air Ministry directed the air defense against the Flaxen attack on York. It ordered the surviving fighters back to base after heavy losses, with 632 raiders still airborne, including 201 bombers.
United Earth radar network
United Earth maintained radar installations around the perimeter of its territory. Real-time information from the network was supplied to its aircraft during the defense against the raid on York.
York
York was a regional capital of United Earth and the most heavily populated city in Europe. Flaxen bombers deliberately attacked its population centers after Serilda's extraction.