Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
"Stations of the Tide" is a science fiction narrative that unfolds on the colonized planet of Miranda, which is experiencing significant environmental upheaval due to the Jubilee Tides—an event occurring once every two centuries that inundates much of the land. The story follows an unnamed bureaucrat dispatched by the Technology Transfer Department to investigate potential technological theft by a local figure known as Gregorian, who is believed to have access to proscribed technology. As the tides rise, the bureaucrat navigates a complex landscape shaped by both physical and metaphysical challenges, aided by advanced tools like a nanotechnological briefcase and robotic surrogates.
The plot delves into the backstory of Gregorian, including his unique virgin birth and upbringing, as well as the cultural guilt surrounding the haunts, the planet's original intelligent inhabitants, who were eradicated during a prior tide. Throughout his journey, the bureaucrat grapples with the interpersonal dynamics between Gregorian and his father, Korda, who is revealed to have cloned himself. As the bureaucrat's quest unfolds, themes of identity, legacy, and the intersection of technology and nature are explored. Ultimately, the narrative culminates in a profound transformation as the bureaucrat embraces his fate amidst the inexorable rise of the ocean. This story invites readers to reflect on the complexities of existence in a world where technology, family ties, and environmental forces intertwine.
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Stations of the Tide
First published: 1991
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—alien civilization
Time of work: The distant future
Locale: The planet Miranda
The Plot
An unnamed bureaucrat is sent from the Technology Transfer Department to the colonized planet Miranda. Miranda is a technologically restricted planet, and the bureaucrat’s boss, Korda, fears that the Mirandan wizard Gregorian has stolen some proscribed technology. Miranda, at the time of the bureaucrat’s arrival, faces the once-in-two-centuries Jubilee Tides, when vast portions of the planet are drowned. Only the life-forms adapted to live under water survive. As the towns gear up for evacuation, the bureaucrat searches for Gregorian in an ever-shifting reality. He is aided by his nanotechnological briefcase and robotic surrogates.
The bureaucrat and Chu, his liaison officer, land in Tidewater, Gregorian’s boyhood home and center for a smuggling ring in haunt artifacts. Haunts were the original intelligent life-form on Miranda, but all of them were killed by accident in a previous Jubilee Tide. The Mirandans still suffer guilt, remorse, and fascination for these beings, who knew how to change form to live in Ocean when the world was drowned.
The bureaucrat interviews Gregorian’s mother and learns that his was a virgin birth. When young, she met a Department technocrat and agreed to become pregnant with his cloned embryo. The technocrat housed her in Ararat, now a lost city, to await the birth. She escaped, returned to Tidewater, and reared Gregorian. The bureaucrat learns that Gregorian ran away from home to study wizardry with Madame Campase, a famous witch. He then meets with Undine, who had been Madame Campase’s student along with Gregorian, and is further enlightened about Gregorian’s personality.
Before he and Chu continue their search for Gregorian, the bureaucrat creates numerous surrogates of himself and visits the Puzzle Palace, a constructed reality where surrogates meet, game, exchange information, and travel to other places in virtual reality. From information received there, he begins to be suspicious of Korda, who is obsessed with Miranda’s haunts. Returning from the Puzzle Palace, the bureaucrat confronts a Korda surrogate and learns that Korda is Gregorian’s father. He had cloned himself so that he and his son could continue the search for any remaining haunts. Now that Gregorian is in possession of restricted technology, however, he must be hunted down, regardless of the father-son relation-ship.
The bureaucrat flies to Ararat, landing there as the tides begin. He becomes lost in a swirling blizzard. He is saved from frostbite by Gregorian, who brings him back to the fortress and chains him to a wall to be drowned. They share a drug and merge identities. The bureaucrat then realizes and understands the extent of Gregorian’s hatred for his father. As the bureaucrat begins to give up hope, his briefcase arrives, frees him, and chains Gregorian. He watches the tides come in and the world turn to Ocean. Slowly, using shaping agents within himself, the bureaucrat changes into a sea animal and plunges into the sea.