The remaining four members of an Exploration and Evaluation team have arrived at the third planet of the Rukbat system. Tired, worn out and shattered after a gruelling mission which has cost four members of the team their lives, they are not holding out great hopes for this planet. But landing dispels their pessimism and they find a planet with a sparse but thriving eco-system…
“The P. E. R. N. Survey” shouldn’t work as a short story. It relies heavily on the reader’s knowledge of the series. It also features very little in the sense of conflict or excitement, beyond the old-fashioned “sensawunda” gained from exploring a new world. But it provides a wry explanation for something that has been a mystery to readers of the series since it began: where did the name of Pern come from?
This story first appeared in Amazing Stories in September 1993 (the same month that “The Dolphins’ Bell” was originally published). The magazine notes that it was the first time that McCaffrey had graced the pages of Amazing with a short story in the history of the magazine.
It’s worth noting that Amazing was first published on March 10 1926, just weeks before Anne McCaffrey was born. The cover marks it as being “April 1926” in that interesting way that periodicals have of proclaiming that they are from the very near future. The first editor of Amazing Stories, Hugo Gernsback, described the stories within the covers as being “scientifiction” (“science fiction” not being a term in usage yet). Gernsback is considered by many to be the seminal figure of twentieth century science fiction, with Amazing as the first openly SF magazine on the market. It ceased physical production in 2005 but remains an online venue for news and stories.
Anyway, this is a lovely piece of fluff, similar in vein to “The Impression.” Where it differs from that piece is that we get some genuine ideas about what Pern “is.”
Our crew start their trip feeling burnt out and disillusioned. They have lost half of their crew in a series of tragic accidents. They go to Pern half-afraid of the continuation of their bad luck.
What they find there is a restoration of their good spirits and sense of optimism, fueled by the buoyant atmosphere of the planet and the mysteries of the ecosystem – there are no large land animals, for example, while the marine life is flourishing; plantlife seems to be in a state of regeneration and regrowth and there are mysterious circular patterns all over the surface of the planet.
Us longterm readers know what’s going on, but for newcomers to the series, it’s a bit of a mystery.
Anyway, Pern works its magic on the crew and they return to their ship refreshed and revitalised. They have, however, discovered little of material worth on the planet and have labelled it with the acronyms common in their work: Parallels Earth, Resources Negligible.
P. E. R. N.
The idea of Pern’s name being an acronym is great. That a jaded, depleted survey team find solace and healing here is a great piece of bookending to Dragonflight which begins in a place of decadence and degradation.
Speaking of Dragonflight, there’s a question asked of every long-running series by newcomers: “Where do I start reading?”
This story places itself right at the very beginning of the series but it has very little to offer someone coming fresh to the series. Dragonflight, on the other hand, is an early work by the author and hasn’t aged well socially so that mightn’t be a good place either. Dragonsong could be an excellent place to start: it tells its own fabulous story and gives you glimpses into what else has been going on.
Or you could do what most people have done with long-running series and just start with whichever volume falls into your hands first. I started with Dragonflight and then went on to Dragonsinger then read the other five that were available to me at that time in publication order.
The whole “publication order” versus “chronological order” debate is something that is common among fans of long-running series. With series’ that jump around in time (like this one) or ones that have a large cast of characters in largely independent stories, some readers prefer to experience the stories in an order that makes sense within the books.
I don’t have a definitive answer for readers – I don’t think anyone does – but I have always gone with publication order because that’s how the author came to the series as well and I love having the same experience of uncovering a story that the author has.
Having said that, there is a lot to be said for experiencing a story that has been completed in the order that the characters come to it, although that can wreak merry hell on things like spoilers and twists.
It’s a mystery, really; a mystery that harms nobody but which is enriched by what we already know.
Just like this story.
Coming Up Next: Whatever is left of The Chronicles Of Pern: First Fall
