Atdtda36: The other side of the tapestry, 1026-1027

[Paul Nightingale]

On 1023 Miles considers 'poor innocents', aka 'boys, so much like us'. And
now the Chums find themselves, in Geneva, 'at the former Helvetia Royale,
one of the great Swiss tourist hotels, which once, before the war, had
swarmed with visitors from Europe and America' (1026). The remaking of
identity goes on. Not least, there is the revised relationship between
Chums/Inconvenience and the Russian airship to consider. They arrive 'in
convoy' and it is, perhaps, significant that the narrative first records the
whereabouts of 'Padzhitnoff's crew ... quartered south of the river in the
older part of town, where some of them had lived as University students in
the years before the Revolution'. This opening paragraph gives the two
aircrews contrasting relationships to history, and the Chums' identity, as a
result, is rendered somewhat more anonymous.

The narrative has previously offered Earth and counter-Earth, and now we
have the two airships as alternates. Moreover, on 1027, it is clear that
Padzhitnoff (eg 'looking as authoritative as he ever did') is in charge. If
the Chums begin by being associated with tourism they have to learn how to
work and contribute productively. By the end of the section, coming under
fire is 'a new experience', one they should not 'take more personally than
bad weather or faulty maps'. Cf the opening of the previous section on 1021:
'As if all maps and charts had suddenly become unreadable ...' etc, in the
paragraph that ends with reference to the Foundational Memorandum (and is
then followed by a description of their financial affairs, 1021-1022).

Geneva is 'lively with all sorts of business' (1026) and this activity
includes 'a great experiment in the possibilities of compassion in the
depths of war'. By way of contrast: 'Out in Europe, the great Tragedy went
rushing on ...' etc. Geneva is, somehow, outside the Europe of war, but its
people also yearn for involvement, ie 'they may have felt some need simply
to be there and contribute what they could'. If 'here in everyday
Switzerland it was the other side of the tapestry' (bottom of 1026), or
'backstage' (top of 1027), one might consider Miles' closing observation,
'that their involvement in the European war had not really begun until they
took refuge on neutral ground'. Perhaps there is no such beast as
neutrality. At the start of the chapter, in a new departure, 'the boys [are]
very much on their own' (1018). Subsequently, they are made aware of
'something very peculiar ... down on the Surface' (1022); this growing
awareness of 'the current world situation' is tied to Baklashchan's
appearance and employment of the Chums to find Padzhitnoff. Eventually they
have to abandon what might be termed objective inquiry and make a call, in
Lindsay's words, 'either turn Captain Padzhitnoff over to the authorities of
his country or escort him to safety, and become fugitives from justice
ourselves' (1025). By the end of the current section, 'escort him to safety'
has become 'took refuge on neutral ground' (1027).

The section begins by locating the action in the final stages of the war, ie
following either of the revolutions of 1917 (1026). In the final paragraph
the action covers what might be called the post-war years, with references
to 'captured members of the Japanese-American expeditionary force' and 'the
relocation of Admiral Kolchak's government from Omsk (1027). One might infer
that the war does not end in 1918. The narrative sets up a distinction, as
Miles has it, between 'the European war' and 'neutral ground', but then
refuses to respect the border. Similarly, the final paragraph reminds us
that war goes on, the border between war and post-war no more substantial.