BP7 – Joshua Caesar

In Vernor Vinge’s story “The Blabber”, we are given little hints and clues as to not only what the Blabber looks like, but also what the being is capable and its origins. We learn that it is being that is able to mimic language patterns and it is a being that has fur and talons, but all these descriptions are drip fed to us throughout the story and do not really help us get a good idea of what this being is and what it is truly capable of, that is up until page 29.

At this point, Hamid had just had a very tense conversation with both Ravna and Tines concerning the Blab and negotiations between them to have the Blab be given to them and Hamid being rewarded for that. After this, he was woken up in the middle of the night to a weird hissing sound and with this combined with having just communicated with Ravna and Tines, he contacted the slug to help get answers as to what was going on, and that was exactly what he got. When he calls the slug, Larry Fujiyama picks up and provides a lot of backstory to a species that many say is the same as or closely related to the Blab. On pages 29 and 30 we learn that this species is not only highly intelligent, but possesses technology that far exceeds that inside the Zone. We also learn that they were extremely merciless and tyrannical, using their technology to expand their empire and wipe out whole planets with ease, and all without ftl (faster than light).

This scene helps us better understand the story because with this knowledge, we now know just how intelligent the Blab is or can become and the type of damage it can do if it was pushed to that point. Up to now, the Blab has been depicted as this sort of pet that likes to play around and cuddle with its owner, but with this newfound knowledge it completely changes the way we and even the characters within the story look at the Blab and interact with it.