Chapter 31: Vadan — Summary, Themes, and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with Saskia and Michiel flying south along the Italian coast of the Adriatic toward Vadan, an island off Albania. Michiel, though not a licensed pilot, has enough experience to handle the Beaver in level flight, and the two make an easygoing journey with stops at a Roman town with a local art scene and a waterfront bar near Brindisi. At the second stop, Albanian fuel crew assume Michiel owns the plane, giving Saskia a rare moment of anonymity. Over white wine and snails, Michiel makes a double entendre about the Beaver, and the two flirt openly.

Arriving at Vadan with daylight to spare, they circle the summit to survey the gun construction: a paved zigzag road, construction trailers around the head frame, a large spoil heap, a sulfur pile, gas plumbing, and a separate living complex a couple of kilometers away. The island's single anchorage sits in a rocky cove where Venetian merchants once called and the Soviets later built a military compound. Two yachts are tied up: the enormous Crescent, owned by Saudi Prince Fahd bin Talal, and the smaller, sail-winged Bøkesuden, the Norwegian royal yacht, green and wind- and solar-powered.

Saskia is hosted on Crescent with elaborate protocol—a bouquet, a royal suite, and a phalanx of staff. She finds Michiel at the poolside bar with Jules, who has taken a job as a scuba instructor on the yacht to be near Fenna. Saskia and Michiel spend the night together.

The next morning, Prince Bjorn of Norway knocks on her door to discuss his interest in Saskia's daughter Lotte, who is seventeen. Bjorn, twenty-two and an engineering graduate planning to work on carbon capture, assures Saskia that nothing has happened and nothing will until Lotte is of age. The conversation is interrupted when Michiel walks out of the bathroom with his robe open, prompting Saskia to tell Bjorn, Don't be like him. She promises to attend the opening session in forty-five minutes.

The Netherworld conference opens under a canopy pitched amid the ruins of the Venetian fortified town, with a loudspeaker broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer for the Albanian workers. Bjorn and Saskia deliver brief royal remarks; Fahd gives a keynote announcing Saudi climate projects, obliquely confirming rumors of their own geoengineering work, and calling for carbon removal at a scale matching the fossil fuel industry's century and a half of emissions. He quotes Lincoln's second inaugural address to frame the moral stakes.

After lunch, everyone buses to the summit, where the Albanian minister of infrastructure and energy presses a red button and the gun fires its first projectile. The sonic boom startles most attendees, but not those who'd heard it before in West Texas.

Later, Fahd offers Saskia a hydrogen-fueled jet, complete with a pilot named Ervin and a businessman named Clyde from the company that built it. Bjorn counters with an offer of unlimited use of the royal yacht Bøkesuden. Saskia goes to bed thinking it's all ridiculous—well-meaning friends with too much money taking the Queen of Netherworld gag too seriously.

She wakes up with a changed perspective. Overnight news reports describe escalating tensions in New Guinea and West Texas. India is making noises about climate peacekeeping and denouncing the gun's firing; China is talking menacingly about instability in Papua. Words like Sneeuwberg and RoDuSh keep surfacing, reminders of Dutch colonial connections. Saskia realizes the world is asking her to play a role in managing what Alastair calls geopolitical cruft—messy holdovers from obsolete systems that still have real consequences.

Key Events

Saskia and Michiel fly down the Adriatic to Vadan, stopping at two coastal towns.
They arrive to find the gun construction well advanced and two yachts docked: Crescent and Bøkesuden.
Saskia reunites with Jules, who has taken a scuba instructor job to be near Fenna.
Saskia and Michiel spend the night together.
Prince Bjorn visits to discuss his interest in Lotte.
The Netherworld conference opens with speeches by Bjorn, Saskia, and Fahd.
Fahd announces Saudi climate projects and calls for large-scale carbon removal.
The gun fires its first projectile, producing a sonic boom.
Fahd offers Saskia a hydrogen-fueled jet; Bjorn offers use of the royal yacht.
Overnight news of escalating tensions in New Guinea and West Texas shifts Saskia's perspective.

Character Development

Saskia moves from a relaxed, anonymous holiday mood to a renewed sense of purpose. The chapter shows her enjoying a rare spell of being unobserved, then being drawn back into the world of royal diplomacy and geopolitical responsibility. Her decision to take the offers seriously by morning marks a shift from abdicated queen to active participant.

Michiel is revealed as a companion who is good company and knows the coast well, but also someone who doesn't take things too seriously—contrasted with Bjorn's earnestness.

Prince Bjorn is earnest, self-disciplined, and respectful. His engineering background and carbon capture ambitions align with his royal role. His awkwardness around Saskia and his careful approach to Lotte show a young man trying to do things properly.

Prince Fahd bin Talal is a skilled public speaker with real authority, presenting himself as a responsible steward of oil wealth. Saskia can't tell whether he's sincere or delusional, but his money and projects are real.

Jules continues his pattern of following Fenna, now working on a yacht to be near her.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Climate geopolitics: The conference brings together oil money (Norwegian and Saudi) to fund climate solutions, with the gun as a working example of geoengineering.

Colonial legacy: The Venetian ruins, the Soviet military compound, and the Dutch colonial history in New Guinea all surface as reminders that the present is built on past empires.

Royal diplomacy: The contrast between Dutch, Norwegian, and Saudi royal styles—from Saskia's matter-of-fact approach to Fahd's elaborate protocol—shows how monarchy adapts to different political realities.

The two yachts: Crescent (fossil-fuel wealth, luxury) and Bøkesuden (green technology, restraint) symbolize two paths for oil money.

The gun as symbol: The first projectile fired from Vadan represents the transition from theory to practice in geoengineering.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is the pivot point where Saskia's abdication gives way to a new role. The Netherworld conference brings together the major players in climate finance and geoengineering, and the gun's first firing marks a concrete milestone. The overnight news of escalating tensions in New Guinea and West Texas forces Saskia to reconsider her position—she can't simply walk away. The chapter also establishes the geopolitical stakes: India and China are positioning themselves to act unilaterally, and the old powers (the U.S., the U.N.) are unable or unwilling to intervene. Saskia's realization that the world is asking her to play a part in managing this cruft sets up the rest of the novel.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Saskia's perspective shift so dramatically between the evening and the following morning?

Overnight, news arrives of escalating tensions in New Guinea and West Texas, with India threatening climate peacekeeping and China menacing about Papua. These developments make the conference's abstract talk about carbon and geoengineering suddenly concrete. Saskia realizes that the offers of the jet and the yacht aren't just extravagant gifts—they're resources she may need to act in a world that is asking her to take on a role.

2. What does the contrast between the two yachts reveal about the different approaches to climate action?

Crescent represents the old model: fossil-fuel wealth, luxury, and elaborate protocol. Bøkesuden represents the new model: green technology, restraint, and a more matter-of-fact royal style. The contrast suggests that the money to fix the climate problem comes from the very industries that caused it, and that different cultures are approaching the transition differently.

3. How does Fahd's keynote speech frame the moral responsibility of oil wealth?

Fahd acknowledges that oil-rich countries have reaped great rewards making the situation worse and argues they have a role in setting things right. He calls for carbon removal at a scale matching the fossil fuel industry's historical emissions, and quotes Lincoln's second inaugural to frame the effort as a moral reckoning. Saskia's uncertainty about whether he's sincere highlights the difficulty of trusting powerful actors in climate politics.