"When do you know?....."

This is a Ian story. We haven't had one of those in a while! So it's very welcome!

The party lands at a sky hotel in a world filled with purple hues and sparkling stars. The setting is presented wonderfully! The story takes a lot of time to get this right. Describing loads of details about how the colors in the sky blend together, how dreamy it is and what the characters think of it. It really makes us care for it.

After the setting is introduced, we get the disruption in the form of the rocket men. A relatively simple to understand group of space pirates. Their signature is, surprise surprise, that they all have a rocket taped to their back. They take control of the hotel and want to farm the planet of its resources. A basic affair, but that's not a bad thing.

The story around the rocket men invasion is told slightly out of order, and slowly the pieces catch up with each other. For example, we start with the party being held hostage and only later learn how they got in that situation. It's like hearing 2 different parts of the story and swapping between them.

That's not necessarily anything new. Plenty of stories start in the middle, then go back (In Medias Res, if you need a term). But this story weaves it all together in some really interesting ways. 2 of those stand out.

First of all, we have the word connections. To signify swaps between the 2 parts, we often get a phrase that is used in both contexts. For example, say Ian is looking at the sky and saying "It's a sight to behold". After he has said, we immediately switch to the other storyline. The enemy captain looks at his invasion and says "What a sight to behold". Same words, different context. This story really likes to play with that.

The other notable thing about the weaving, is how this story withholds information. For example, we hear at the start how the party is held captive. Barbara and Vicki are in a corner, and Ian is across from them. The story lets us know that much. What we don't know at this point, is that Ian is disguised as one of the rocket men. We make the assumption he's also a hostage, then get surprised when he had an ace up his sleeve all along. It binds the pieces together nicely and is a creative use of storytelling. It keeps you on your toes.

This interwoven narrative mostly works, but duds a little at the end. At a certain point, we swap from a "past-storyline and a present-storyline" to a "present-storyline and a future-storyline". Basically, the story starts acting like it already told us the resolution and is reaching its ending. Talking about how difficult it all was, and how we're glad it's over. Meanwhile we haven't seen that resolution yet and it's still going on for us. That's a bit jarring. We cut out of the final battle quite a few times, and I think it would've been stronger if we stayed in the fight. Especially since the story has earned that fight quite well.

As for the actual content of the tale, it's mostly a character piece. The main enemies are not that complicated, and don't get any more focus than they need. Instead, we focus on Ian. The story never explicitly states it, but this is the story where Ian realizes he's in love. We get a small, mental speech from him. A realization he has while Barbara gets pushed out of an airlock, into the open sky. It's a fantastic bit of writing:

"When do you know? When do you know....

Not the first moments, not then.

Not in the early, heady joys.

(.....)

When you see it torn from your hands.

And it's never coming back.

That's when you know.

The moment you risk losing it forever, you know.

And sometimes, you have to take a chance."

After that brilliantly performed mental speech, Ian makes his usual heroic moves. And. it. has. never. been. more. earned. He jumps after her, into the open. Saving what matters to him. It's unbelievably well executed. Ian at his absolute best.

As for the other characters, they get some minor stuff. Vicki has some childlike wonder, which is cute. The Doctor shows of his cleverness, and Barbara gets the moments of wonder about the world. Small stuff, not that important, but enjoyable. It keeps the focus on Ian though, as it should be. This is his tale.

The Rocket men is a simple story with layers and layers of character work inside. At the same time, it tries a new way of storytelling that is refreshing and keeps surprising. It's tightly written, and knows exactly what it wants to achieve. Even though it has the slightest of missteps at the end, it is an absolute powerhouse of a story. One of the most insightful tales into Ian. Making him remember why he fights at all. A must listen.