Episode Studies by Clayton Barr enik1138-at-popapostle-dot-com
V
The Alien Swordmaster
Written by Somtow Sucharitkul
(The page numbers come from the 1st printing,
paperback edition, published April 1985)
Thanks to the ingenious pressure skins of Commander Fieh Chan,
the Visitors maintain a foothold in the Far East and a plan is
hatched to convert the greatest martial arts masters in the
world to serve the aliens' ends.
Story Summary
Part 1 - Liberation: Tokyo
American anthropologist Tomoko Jones is awakened from her sleep
in a Visitor pod aboard the Tokyo mothership. As her
consciousness slowly returns, she recalls how she was taken by
the Visitors along with the Ainu villagers she and her fellow
scientists had been studying on Hokkaido island since before the alien
arrival. Upon full awakening, she is led down the corridors of
the ship and to a chamber decorated in traditional Japanese
trappings. She recalls how she left her husband, Matt, in the
United States, months before to pursue the study of the Ainu.
Now, the regional Commander of the Asian region, Fieh Chan,
arrives in his quarters and Tomoko realizes she's been brought
there for sex.
Tomoko finds the alien Commander strangely compelling and she
tells him her life story. Then alarms sound throughout the ship
as the Visitors find themselves under attack by high altitude
balloons releasing a red toxin...it is V-day! As Fieh Chan
realizes that all of the motherships are fleeing Earth, he
instead leads Tomoko to an escape shuttle door in his quarters
and they shoot out over Tokyo. But there must be a leak in the
vessel's ventilation system as Fieh Chan begins to strain to get
breath. He runs to the back of the shuttle, strips off his human
disguise and dons a prototype molecular shielding plastic of his
own invention that bonds to his skin, allowing oxygen in, but
keeping anything as large as the red dust bacteria out.
But, to make matters worse, the shuttle is low on fuel and the
two are forced to eject and parachute down. They are separated
in the fall and Tomoko makes her way through the city, which is
caught up in the revelry of celebration at the Visitors' defeat,
to the office of her anthropology program where she is reunited
with her mentor, Dr. Schwabauer.
Part 2 - California: Four Months Later
In Orange County California, Tomoko's husband Matt, a martial
arts expert, runs a martial arts school. In her absence, he has
taken in a young boy whose father had been killed and his mother
eaten by the Visitors. He and the boy, called CB, puzzle over a
strange telegram received at the school:
BEWARE
THE ALIEN SWORDMASTER
IS COMING.
Matt tries to call his friend Lex Nakashima in New York but gets
Lex's wife instead, who says that Lex has disappeared after
getting a crank telegram that reads the same as the one Matt
received.
On the short walk home from the school to their home, Matt and
CB are ambushed by ninjas! The two skilled martial artists
dispatch the ninjas, who flee except for one who was knocked
unconscious onto the pavement. Matt pulls his ninja mask off,
inadvertently pulling off a membranous sheath from the Asian
face; it's a Visitor wearing one of Fieh Chan's molecular
pressure skins. With the seal broken, he dies from the red dust
bacteria in the air.
The next day at the school, Matt receives a call from another
martial arts friend, Rod Casilli. Rod has also received one of
the strange telegrams, but he doesn't believe Matt's theory that
Visitors still on Earth are planning to abduct the top martial
artists in the world. Matt fills in his secretary, Anne, and the
three of them call Kunio Yasutake, master of takodo, in Oregon.
Yasutake has also received the telegram. But Matt thinks
Yasutake will be safe because he's accepting an invitation to
give a demonstration of takodo in Tokyo.
Later Rod Casilli calls back, saying the Visitors showed up at
his isolated desert home. He has fled to the closest general
store to phone Matt who tells Rod to fly out to L.A. to join him
to build a force of opposition. Just then, Rod says, "They're
coming into the store!" The sounds of a vicious scuffle follow,
then the line goes dead.
Immediately after the call from Rod, Tomoko enters the school
and re-enters Matt's life. She is pleased at the softening of
personality that caring for CB has brought to him. She tells
them all of what happened to her in Japan and the struggle to
get home to the U.S. Japan is sealing itself off from the rest
of the world, it's leaders claiming the need for cultural
purity; technology is being neglected and makeshift samurai
police with swords patrol the streets.
Back in Japan, the new minister of culture, Mr. Ogawa, is
revealed to be a convert as he meets with Lady Murasaki, leader
of a cadre of Visitors who have survived on Earth post-V-day
with the help of Fieh Chan's molecular pressure skins. The plan
to abduct martial artists is mentioned as is the difficulty that
is being had in manufacturing more of the
pressure skins without the missing Fieh Chan to advise
in the production.
Matt and the rest make more phone calls to martial arts experts
and find most of them have received the strange telegram and
seven have already disappeared. Then they are attacked again by
a pack of Visitor ninjas. Anne is killed before an old man
wielding a sword and dressed as a samurai, steps in to help the humans, killing the
attacking aliens. Soon Matt, Tomoko, and CB decide to accompany
the old man, Kenzo Sugihara, back to Japan to stop whatever the
Visitors have in mind for the abducted martial artists.
Sugihara knows there is a secret Visitor base at the abandoned
John Wayne Airport in Orange County. He pretends to be a Visitor
taking his human prisoners to Japan on the next skyfighter.
After the fighter takes off and is soaring across the ocean,
they kill the pilots.
Part 3 - Tokyo: The Chase
Ogawa meets again with Lady Murasaki and reports that the
Matsuzakaya department store has been converted into a suicide center
for dishonored humans to kill themselves, calling it the Institute for
Inner Peace. Murasaki is using the ancient customs of Japan
against the populace as a way to gather human bodies for food.
Tomoko leads the others to the anthropological institute and
they find only Professor Schwabauer left. In the morning, Tomoko and
Sugihara investigate the so-called
Institute for Inner Peace. While there, they sneak into the back
chambers and find that the local lizards have abandoned their
human disguises, wearing only the life saving pressure skins
over their scaly hides. They also overhear Lady Murasaki say
that she is retreating to the secret hideout at Osaka castle.
They believe the kidnapped martial arts masters are being held
there and decide to try to get in and set them free.
Sugihara takes them to a residence where his mistress lives, who
also happens to be a scientist. She has been examining the
dermoplast skin and has reproduced a lesser quality version in
Visitor skin form. They will use it to disguise themselves as
Visitors and, with the help of voice modulators to mimic the
reverberating voices, enter Osaka castle. While discussing it,
they conclude the Visitors must be planning to convert the
masters to train their people and thus enforce their will on the
human populace by martial arts when their technology runs down
without the supplies of the motherships. Most of the Japanese
masters have already committed hara-kiri as the only honorable
way out of fulfilling the obligation, thus the Visitors have
kidnapped masters from other countries.
The next morning they drive in a limousine made up to look like
an official Visitor vehicle to Osaka castle. Sugihara is able to
get them past the castle's checkpoint.
Part 4 - Osaka: The Alien Swordmaster
Inside the castle, Lady Murasaki is torturing Rod Casilli as
part of the conversion process. So far he has not broken, though
many of the other masters have and have already begun training
Visitor ninjas. When our heroes get inside the castle, they see
Kunio Yasutake and his students giving a demonstration to Lady
Murasaki which includes Yasutake killing a young boy in the
process. They realize the masters are training an army of human
converts who will do anything Lady Murasaki asks, including
facing certain death. Sugihara also realizes that the Visitor
head honchos in the region are all going to be at the castle for
a banquet that evening.
As evening arrives,
Matt and CB head to the basement dungeon to seek the captive
masters while Sugihara and Tomoko attend the banquet.
Their imperfect lizard skin draws some attention, but not enough
that the assembled Visitors figure out they don't belong. Lady
Murasaki makes an announcement that the regional leader, Fieh
Chan, is dead from the red dust and presents an urn which she
claims contains his ashes. She is now the leader here.
In the dungeon, Matt and CB find Rod Casilli and free him but
they all get into a battle with a swarm of Visitor guards.
In his own Visitor disguise, Matt is able to convince the other
converts in the dungeon to battle the real Visitors, claiming
they have betrayed their own kind. Now the three humans lead an
army of converts into the main chamber of the castle. With this
distraction, Kenzo Sugihara rips off his Visitor face...and then
rips off his human face! He stands revealed as Fieh Chan; he is
the Alien Swordmaster, a disciple of the ancient preta-na-ma
religion and recent follower of the Zen Buddhism of the true
Kenzo Sugihara who committed seppuku rather than follow the
Visitors' law. And he has sided with humanity.
Fieh Chan activates a program in the Visitor computer system
installed in the castle. He reveals that he has now released an
enzyme into the castle atmosphere that will soon break down the
bonds of the pressure skins and expose the Visitor personnel to
the red dust. He also opens a secret passage that reveals three
skyfighters for escape. He urges Tomoko, Matt, CB, and Rod to
escape in one and he will hold off the Visitors; he has decided
he will sacrifice himself so as not to allow the mutual
attraction between himself and Tomoko to come between her and
her husband. Tomoko reluctantly lets him go and the four of them
take off in the skyfighter.
But they are pursued by the other two skyfighters. They shoot
down the first one and, turning their attention to the second,
realize it is piloted by Lady Murasaki herself, seeking to gun
them down. But CB's video game skills come to the rescue and he
blows her craft out of the sky. Looking back at the castle they
see the converts escaping; they only hope those poor souls can
be returned to their normal psyches.
Our heroes head for Tokyo...and a hamburger.
THE END
Didja Know?
Author
Somtow Sucharitkul is now known under the pen name S.P. Somtow.
In addition to writing fiction, he is also a music composer.
Didja Notice?
The master copy of this book needed to be
more closely proofread...it's full of typos!
On page 4, two Visitor technicians are
looking through the podded humans on the Tokyo mothership. One
of them says, "What about that one there?" and the other
replies, "I don't think the leader wants a boy tonight." Since
they eventually pick Tomoko and we learn the leader (Fieh Chan)
wants her for sex, the dialog here seems to suggest he enjoys
sex with both female and male humans.
Also on page 4, it is revealed that the synthetic human
skin worn by the Visitors is called "dermoplast."
During the technicians' discussion, we learn that one of them
also finds the humans somewhat attractive. Commenting on the
other's "insatiable lusts", the second technician says, "If we
stopped to couple with every alien life form we conquered, do
you think we'd be ruling this quadrant of the galaxy?" This
seems to imply that the Visitors have encountered and conquered
a number of other species and are dominant in our quadrant of
the Milky Way.
The second technician commenting above also says that Komodo
dragons remind him of one of their own children back on the
homeworld.
On page 6, the second technician refers to sex with humans as
bestiality. Does this mean there are hominid or ape-like
animals on their homeworld? The first technician then replies,
"Well, they are sentient." At this point the second
technician threatens to report the first to the "attitude
adjustment committee." Does this suggest that members of the
military might find themselves subjected to the conversion
chamber for improper thoughts? Recall that in
The Pursuit of Diana,
Willie reveals that conversion is used to turn political
prisoners into willing workers on their homeworld.
Also on page 6, the second technician makes a mocking reference
to "those softhearted underground religions." Perhaps the
religion of Zon (introduced later in the weekly series) is one
of those of which she speaks?
On page 6, we get the Visitor word kranjosh, a type of
seasoning.
When Tomoko awakens and looks around her on page 7, she sees the
other podded humans. She thinks of the pods as being sacks like
membranes or placentas. This suggests an organic quality to the
pods, similar to the intestinal-like tubes we saw coiled around
the pods in the mini-series episodes.
On page 7, a Visitor technician speaks Japanese, "Namae wa nan
da?" I think this means "What is your name?"
On page 8, Tomoko says in Japanese, "Amerikajin da yo! Nihongo
ga dekinai!" I think this is "I am American! I don't speak
Japanese!"
Also on page 8, Tomoko mentions that she was on Hokkaido
studying the Ainu, the Caucasiform aboriginal people of the
north of Japan. The
Ainu are a real people who lived mostly without contact with
outside culture until the 13th Century. Their main island of
Hokkaido was annexed by Japan in 1898 and the Ainu culture was
largely assimilated into that of the Japanese.
Page 8 reveals that Commander Fieh Chan of the Tokyo mothership
is the commander of the
Tokyo-Seoul-Hong Kong sector.
On page 9 it says that Tomoko hadn't thought of Matt in years.
But then we learn on page 34 that it's only been 1 year she left him to
work in Japan!
In my study of the episode "Test
Subjects", I commented on the similarities between
V and the Twilight
Zone episode "To Serve Man." Here, in this book, Tomoko
also notes that the rumors that the Visitors want humans for
food is reminiscent of that same Twilight Zone episode.
Page 15 mentions a replica of the Eiffel Tower that stands in
Tokyo. This is an actual construct which is known as the
Tokyo Tower. It is painted white and orange instead of the
green of the Eiffel Tower.
Page 15 also mentions the
Ginza, a real world upscale shopping district in Tokyo.
Page 15 also reveals that a significant portion of Tokyo is in
rubble and ruins from Visitor reprisals, due to constant kamikaze
attacks by the Japanese Resistance. From the sound of it, Tokyo
has fared even worse under the Visitor occupation than did
Chicago in The Chicago
Conversion. On page 58, Tomoko describes some of Tokyo's
current problems: the departure of the aliens destroyed Japan's
economy and the country was also bereft of postal and telephone
services; half of Tokyo was in ruins from the subjugation;
converts were running the government and they had restricted
travel to and from the country while also passing edicts to
protect the cultural purity of Japan, wanting to push the island
nation back to the 16th century, before the influence of
Europeans.
On page 16, Fieh Chan tells of a myth among his people that
ape-like creatures once ruled their world like dinosaurs once
did Earth. Before the dawn of their civilization, there was a
great war that cast the apes down and they essentially devolved
into dumb brutes. This would seem to suggest that there are
ape-like animals on the Visitor homeworld now.
On page 17, Fieh Chan continues his telling of the myth,
relating our own myth of the serpent in the garden to theirs of
a temptress ape.
At several points during their escape from the Tokyo mothership,
Fieh Chan seems to act, without explanation, as if Tomoko is
panicking when she is not. Were some passages cut from the
novel? For example, on page 18, after they've climbed into the
escape shuttle, he tells her, "Strap yourself in! Get a grip on
yourself!" But there is no indication that Tomoko does not have
a grip on herself.
Page 20 describes Fieh Chan and Tomoko's flight over Ginza,
where Tomoko sees "the skywalk and the mannequins in the window
dressed in the latest Kenzo fashions". Kenzo fashions are named
for Kenzo Takada, a fashion designer in Japan. It also mentions
the robot traffic police in Tokyo, which are real but it's not
as cool and sci-fi as it sounds:
On page 22, Fieh Chan dons a molecular shielding "pressure skin"
of his own design which allows in oxygen but nothing as large as
red dust bacteria, so he is able to survive in the now
contaminated atmosphere of Earth. This is where author
Sucharitkul's description of the effects of the red dust
bacteria seems to differ from that presented in all other
V media.
How can a simple pseudo-skin covering prevent the red dust from
infecting a Visitor when its major ingress to the body is
through breathing? Later in the book, the effects of the red
dust are described as dissolving the Visitor's flesh, leaving
them unrecognizable, rather than the choking and spasms seen in
the episodes and described in other novels.
Also on page 22, Fieh Chan and Tomoko discover that the shuttle
is almost out of fuel. But they've barely left the mothership!
Wouldn't Fieh Chan be smart enough to keep a fully fueled escape
shuttle, especially seeing as how this shuttle was accessible
only through a secret door in his quarters?
On page 25, an old man discovers Tomoko, who has just parachuted
out of the falling shuttle, and says, "Ee! Bajitaa daroo!
Bajitaa da! Bajitaa!"Bajitaa=Visitor, daroo is unknown to me.
Tomoko asks him, "O-misu o o-negai shimasu?" I can't find a
direct translation for this either but, from the context, she is
asking if they have some water. I've found the online translation
engines
for Japanese to English are very poor!
On page 27, a passerby says, "Kyo wa sabisu." It is Japanese for
"It is free today."
On page 29, Tomoko's anthropological institute is described as
being near Meguro Station.
Meguro Station is a real railway
station in Tokyo.
Page 33 introduces us to the small township of Haataja, CA,
where Matt Jones lives, in Orange County, just a few minutes
down the freeway from
Disneyland. There is no such town! With
the author having used so many real places in Japan for his
novel it's surprising that he makes up a town for this character
to live in. Maybe he's just more familiar with Japan than he is
with Southern California? Still it wouldn't have been that
difficult to find reference material for real towns in
California.
Page 36 reveals that CB knows Sean Donovan and he noticed the
change in Sean after his conversion, even in the time period after the events of
The Pursuit of Diana in which Sean was seemingly deconverted.
With this description and the events relating to Sean in the
weekly series, perhaps the deconversion did not take as well as
Julie and the others had thought.
Also on page 36, CB tells Matt that a squad of Visitors forced
him to watch as they ate his mother!
On pages 38 and 39, CB demonstrates a
cheat on the Galaga arcade game. The cheat he describes is
real! He mentions another cheat on page 87, but I have not been
able to confirm the reality of that one.
On page 40, the TV is tuned into the Orange County Evening News.
There is no such news program in the real world. Orange County
is adjacent to Los Angeles County and news broadcasts come from
there (though, as a side note, there was a newspaper by that name in the region from
1964-1978). The reporter on the news program is named Ace
Crispin; perhaps a take on the name of A. C. Crispin, author of
the V novelization,
co-author of East Coast
Crisis, and later author of Death Tide.
On page 41, you can tell the book was written in the 1980s by
Matt's observation of his secretary Anne Williams' clothing:
She was wearing a headband and black leather spiked suspenders
on lavender parachute pants. (Sexy, he thought.)
Page 46 mentions that a couple of Matt's young martial arts
students are also appearing in a high school play of The Boys
from Syracuse. This is a real play which is a musical
version of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.
On page 54, Kunio Yasutake says, "Moshimoshi? Yasutake desu." It
is Japanese for "Hello? This is Yasutake."
Page 55 reveals there were motherships over Seoul, South Korea
and Hong Kong, China.
Page 55 also seems to confirm accounts in other
V novels that the general
public was not aware of the conversions performed by Visitors.
Human collaborators are thought to be just that, collaborators.
Page 61 mentions the Ueno Line and Yamanote Line of Tokyo's
subway system. These are important Tokyo railway lines in the
real world as well.
On page 62, converted Minister of Culture Ogawa muses on Earth
coming into the hegemony of a galactic empire. Do the Visitors
really have enough power over other worlds to be considered a
galactic empire? Perhaps Ogawa knows more than is revealed in
the novel.
On page 63, when Ogawa first meets with Lady Murasaki, a screen
of Chinese design is described as having a depiction of dragons
above the sea with two humans cowering in terror in a rickety
boat. This design was probably picked by the Visitors as a
representation of the helplessness of humanity at the power of
their reptilian overlords.
On page 63, Ogawa says to Lady Murasaki, "Hai, tono!"Hai=yes, tono
is the title of a feudal lord.
Page 64 mentions i ching sticks. The I Ching
is a classic Chinese book of divination, cosmology, and
philosophy. I Ching sticks are usually sticks of the
yarrow plant used in performing an I Ching divination.
Page 65 reveals that Visitors' tongues are rather long, like
those of chameleons. Here, Lady Murasaki, in a seated position,
extends her tongue all the way down to her feet to grab up a
small, living crab. This is described as "its full hideous
length."
On page 66, the Japanese words omae and ore mean "you" and
"I" in an informal, mostly masculine, sense.
On page 66, Ogawa ponders on whether the Visitors are truly male
or female or something altogether different.
On page 77, Lady Murasaki nibbles from a plate of human fingers!
Page 78 calls the Visitor homeworld a place of deserts, harsh
extremes, and constant drought.
Page 79 calls the Zen philosophy close to that of the banned
preta-na-ma religion of the Visitors.
Page 80 reveals that preta-na-ma is one of the most taboo words
in the Visitor language.
Page 83 reveals that
John Wayne Airport in Orange County,
California was closed down during the Visitor occupation and is
currently a secret base in use by troops of Lady Murasaki. The
statue of John Wayne mentioned on page 88 actually exists at the
airport.
John Wayne (1907-1979) was a popular American actor, especially
known for his roles as tough American cowboys and soldiers.
On page 88, Sugihara says, "Arigato gozaimashita." It's Japanese
for "Thank you very much."
Even though he is disguised as a human, Fieh Chan (Sugihara) is
able to command human converts as a Visitor. Page 89 mentions
him transfixing a convert with a penetrating, hypnotic stare.
This may be a reference to the myth that cobras can hypnotize
their prey. It may also be implying that Fieh Chan is using
telepathy on the converted, as Diana did on Julie in
"The Final Battle" and The Pursuit of Diana.
On page 92, Sugihara mentions
Narita Airport. This is a real
airport in Tokyo.
On page 95, Lady Murasaki wears what is described as a
"horrifying parody of the traditional Japanese bridal garments."
It is "an elaborately brocaded kimono...upon a field of deep
purple silk were stitched, in gold thread and filled in with
garish reds and turquoises, scenes of...lizards gnawing at the
entrails of humans, lizards whose eyes were fiery yellow topazes
sewn into the very lining of the robe."
On page 96, Lady Murasaki and Ogawa discuss the conversion of
the Matsuzakaya department store into a suicide station for the
public. The
Matsuzakaya department store is a real chain of
stores in Japan that has been around since 1611!
On page 97, Ogawa says to Lady Murasaki, "Hai, tono!" Hai=yes,
tono
is the title of a feudal lord.
On pages 97-98, Lady Murasaki discusses how she is processing
and packaging the human flesh from the suicide center for future
use as food. In most sources, the visitors eat only live or
freshly killed meat. Yet, Lady Murasaki makes repeated
references to her pre-processing of meat for future use.
On page 102, a Visitor guard is wearing samurai armor, but it is
emblazoned with the Visitor symbol. He says, "Bajitaa dake!"
He's speaking Japanese and I think it means "Visitors only!"
On page 103, a restaurant chef says, "Irasshai, irasshai." This
is Japanese for "Come in, come in." On page 104 he says,
"Eeto!
Igirisu wa hanusu koto ga dekinai no! O-kyakusama wa nani o--"Eeto
means "Let me see," wa=counter, koto=thing. The other words I
have not been able to translate.
On page 109, Tomoko sees the human suicide victims hanging in
plastic-like bags in an old supply room of the Matsuzakaya
department store. Some of the bodies already have pieces missing
and she also sees what appears to be a jar of pickled human eyes!
On page 121, Sugihara mentions Shibuya station. This is a real
railway station in Tokyo.
On page 122 it is revealed that the Visitors have set up a base
inside Osaka castle. It is a real castle which began
construction in 1583 and has been added to and restored at
various times ever since. Below is an image of Osaka castle and
it is also featured on the cover
of this edition of the novel.
On page 125, Sugihara's mistress, Setsuko, says, "Doozo
sumimasen." This is Japanese for "Please excuse me."
On page 127, Sugihara says, "Hai." This Japanese for "Yes."
On page 128, Setsuko says that her research on the Visitor
dermoplast has shown that it is part organic.
On page 130, Setsuko reveals that she has devices which will act
as voice modulators to make the humans' voices sound like that
of a Visitor. Japan seems to be the world leader in voice
modulation or something...Setsuko has seemingly come up with
this device on her own and in the V
novelization it is revealed that the voice modulators obtained
by Ham Tyler for use by the L.A. Resistance were made by a
network engineer in Japan.
On page 135, after taking a long ride on a bumpy road in an
Earth limousine, Lady Murasaki longs for one of the desert
hoverskimmers of her home planet.
On page 139, our heroes are driving on the Shuto Expressway.
This is a real network of toll roads in the greater Tokyo area.
On page 148, a guard in Osaka castle refers to Lady Murasaki as
tono, the title of a Japanese feudal lord.
On page 151, our heroes see that Kunio Yasutake has been
converted already. Boy, that was quick! You'd think a master of
martial arts would have some endurance to torture and
psychological meddling.
On page 158, Wu Piao speaks to Lady Murasaki of her wily schemes
and compares it to the humans' "fairy tale of the evil fairy who
wasn't invited to the castle." The fairy tale isn't named here,
but I believe he is referring to Sleeping Beauty, in
which an evil fairy is not invited to the castle for the
christening of the new princess and so she places a foreboding
enchantment on the girl.
The Visitor reception at Osaka castle featured some interesting
hors d'oeuvres. Pages 158-159 describe a gelatinized broth
containing swimming amphibians (sounds like Jabba the Hutt's
snack bowl in Return of the Jedi!) and a chilled blood
cocktail.
On page 159, Lady Murasaki reveals to her assembled Visitor
cohorts that their studies have shown that the levels of red
dust toxin are decreasing in parts of the planet that do not
suffer harsh winters. This is a foreshadowing of the revelation
in "Liberation Day" (the first episode of the weekly V
series) that the red dust bacteria tend to die out in temperate
climates.
On page 160, music is played by a gagaku music ensemble for the
Visitor assemblage. Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical
music.
On page 161, Lady Murasaki muses on the quote of an ancient
Earth tyrant, "Let them hate, so long as they fear." The line is
originally from the Roman poem Atreus by Lucius Accius
and was later appropriated as a motto by tyrant emperor
Caligula (AD 12-AD 41).
On page 170, Tomoko listens to what passes for laughter among
the Visitors...a kind of raucous hooting.
On pages 175-176, Fieh Chan discusses the ancient Visitor
religion of preta-na-ma, saying it pertains to a belief in peace
and brotherhood of all species. He was a young novice of the
underground religion when he heard of the distant planet Earth
that was being opened up for exploitation by his species and
which had its own religion of Zen Buddhism which shared many of
the tenets and disciplines of preta-na-ma.
On page 176, Fieh Chan mentions that the Visitors' current,
highly militaristic, regime took over their planet centuries ago
and forged an empire throughout this sector of the galaxy. This
seems to contradict the V novelization and V:
East Coast
Crisiswhich imply that the current military government
supplanted a democratic one within the lifetime of many on their
world.
Throughout the novel, we never get an explanation of how Fieh
Chan was able to disguise his Visitor voice! I suppose a Zen
master can control his vocal cords appropriately!