Next in the challenge is "J" for Jon. Or is is John? The similar names appear in different worlds. The name "John," which ultimately derives from the Hebrew name "Yohanan" meaning "God is gracious." "Jon" is a short form of the name.
Jon appears in Windmaster as the cabin boy on Sea Falcon. Although sold by his mother into service to the House of Cszabo, he was loyal to the ship and crew. Especially to its Captain Ellspeth who he thought of as an older sister. This loyalty resulted in the following snippet.
From Windmaster:Dal stood silent while Ellspeth considered the offer. At her nod, they joined the crew gathered around the sail-wrapped body. Deep breaths, Ellspeth told herself. The crew must not see your pain. Jon honored his house... and you.
Dal’s somber rendition of the words of final journey seemed far away. She hardly noticed when four crewmen took the wizard’s place at the opening in the rail. Her fingers moved of their own volition to send the flute’s haunting refrain over the water. On the dirge’s final note, the crew tilted the board. A solitary ripple marred the surface of the lake when the body dropped into its dark depths.
You've read the price of Jon's loyalty. Read Windmaster to see his actions. As an additional note, Ellsworth used the name Jon when she disguised herself as a male.
As far as John? The name is borne by several family members through the generations. Its use was not set in a fantasy world, but a science fiction tale near of the future. Passengers on tomorrow's trans-continental orbiter discover what can happen when humans abdicate control. When the artificial intelligence pilot changes the flight schedule, one passenger, a holdover from an earlier time in aviation, shows the resilience of human spirit as he overcomes the errant technology to save the doomed flight.
From "Live or Surrender to Technology" in Hearth and Sand: Stories From The Front Lines and the Homefront.
The aircraft reached cruising altitude and the last of Chippi’s strength deserted him. After a final pull on his seat belt, he dropped off into a sleep that was neither restful nor deep. From a habit born of years in the cockpit, one part of his mind retained an awareness of his surroundings. The bustle of flight attendants taking food orders and dispensing drinks served as a connection to the life around him. The plane’s tilt as it entered a steep bank pulled Chippi to alertness. With flights now computer controlled to avoid weather fronts, he knew the steep turn indicated a major problem. Before he could summon an attendant, a computer voice, one almost indistinguishable from a true human’s, came over the aircraft’s message system. “Good afternoon. This is the Captain speaking. Due to inclement weather, there will be a delay in landing. The seatbelt light will remain on until the weather clears.” Chippi looked out the window. However, instead of storm clouds, he was greeted by a clear blue sky. The view below disturbed him even more. This isn’t right, he thought. The NorPac dike follows the coastline from MexCal to Puget Sound. It should be just off our starboard wing. But the massive structure that held the Pacific Ocean at bay and served as the foundation for the desalination plants was not visible from either side of the craft. Only a vast unbroken expanse of water appeared in the viewports.
A several hundred-foot plummet tossed a flight attendant into the empty seat across from Chippi. Moments later a steep climb careened a passenger into her, turning the pair into a tangle of arms and legs. With each violent movement, passengers who weren’t buckled in were tossed about the cabin like leaves in a tornado. The lock on an overhead compartment, stressed beyond its limits, snapped. Briefcases, portable video projectors, and other sundry items flew out of the storage compartments and pelted passengers.
Shrieks from those so attacked added to the pandemonium. In the midst of the chaos, the computer pilot’s cheerful voice again greeted the passengers. “Good afternoon. This is the Captain. Due to inclement weather, there will be a delay in landing. The seatbelt light will remain on until the weather clears.” Chippi, who had seen airplanes go from human pilots to human-supervised computer pilots and eventually to artificial-intelligence systems knew the movements were not a normal reaction to the weather. The meteorological advances of the last fifty years, now allowed experts to dampen the more severe weather interactions of the uppermost air currents. As a result, air travel was safer than at any time since Charles Lindbergh made his historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s finally happened,” he muttered. “One of those darned computers finally broke. We always said people should have stayed in the cockpit.”
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| Two Johns and an early me |
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| A later image of the John (aka Dad) who was the inspiration for John Chippi in “From "Live or Surrender to Technology" in Hearth and Sand: Stories From The Front Lines and the Homefront. |
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