The novella “Turquoise Days” by Alastair Reynolds was published for the first time in 2002.
Turquoise is one of the worlds where the Pattern Jugglers live. They’re sea creatures with mental abilities still only partially understood. On the planet there’s also a human colony studying this species but someone someone become victim and their memories are recorded by them. Naqi and her sister Mina live on Turquoise one day Mina dies swimming with the Pattern Jugglers and is absorbed by them.
Two years later, an interstellar starship arrives in the Turquoise system, the first after many years. It also brings a group of scientists who want to study the Pattern Jugglers of the planet. Naqi becomes suspicious towards them when they ask to have access to an important research station and soon realizes that they’re hiding something.
“Turquoise Days” is part of the “Revelation Space” fictional universe of by Alastair Reynolds but is a standalone story and doesn’t need to have read other stories in this series. The Pattern Jugglers are also mentioned in some other works of this author but it’s in this that details about them are provided.
The Pattern Jugglers are sea creatures with which humans had several contacts over time but are still mysterious in many ways. They are known for their ability to record the mind patterns of sentient creatures and to modify them. Contacts with these creatures can be dangerous because of the risk of being absorbed by them.
If you’re willing to take a risk and pay a price, you can obtain by the Pattern Jugglers an augmentation of some mental skills. For example, a character in the novella “Diamond Dogs” has math skills enhanced as a result of a contact with these creatures.
The Pattern Jugglers live in the oceans of various planets and among those there’s Turquoise. Not surprisingly, the human colony on the planet includes scientists who are carrying out research on these creatures. Mina, the sister of the protagonist of “Turquoise Days”, dies following a contact with the Pattern Jugglers, like other inhabitants of this planet.
Naqi feels guilty for the death of her sister Mina and decided to devote herself to research on Pattern Jugglers. When an interstellar starship reaches Turquoise, the situation on the planet, generally isolated, changes dramatically. A group of scientists arrived to investigate the local Pattern Jugglers but Naqi is skeptical about their real intentions.
The plot is in many ways an excuse to develop a story very character-oriented, mainly focused on Naqi but also the Pattern Jugglers. Alastair Reynolds develops the protagonist exploring her desires and motivations and at the same time allows us to better understand the Pattern Jugglers.
Because of its limited length, the plot of “Turquoise Days” is simple and straightforward, maybe too much. The first chapter, which occupies about a quarter of this novella, tells the story of Mina’s death so the remaining part is fast-paced in the story of the arrival of the interstellar starship.
Personally, I prefer stories where the plot has a bit more importance. In the case of “Turquoise Days” I’m okay with Naqi’s characterization and even more with having more information about the Pattern Jugglers. My problem is that the plot seems too simple, almost like it’s a draft of a novel abandoned and published as it was. That impression was certainly helped by my reading of other works by Alastair Reynolds in which the plot is much more sophisticated.
In fact, I can’t say that “Turquoise Days” is bad because aside my doubts about its plot it contains interesting elements. Certainly readers who appreciate character-oriented stories will like it but I think it’s still useful to people who have already read other works by Alastair Reynolds in which the Pattern Jugglers appear to understand a little more about them.
