"We're doing a way better than a mile a minute," remarked Chick Counterfly from the control-console, unable to eliminate from his voice a certain awe.
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If I were to read the above line, I would assume that the person who typed it into their blog did a typo. But I did not. It's probably a regional way of saying the thing Chick is saying, like embarrassingly adding the article "the" in front of freeway numbers when you live in Southern California (the gross and icky California) but intelligently leaving the article off freeway numbers when you live in Northern California (the good and proper California). As a Northern Californian, I would have phrased Chick's statement like this: "We're doing a ways better than a mile a minute" or "We're doing way better than a mile a minute." But I would not have said it exactly like he said it.
Or she! I'm still not backing off my assumption that Chick Counterfly is both a woman and a lover of silverware. One of the greatest adventure tropes in pre-modern times is that of the young woman pretending to be a man so as to experience the world freely. Maybe that trope is even a modern trope! I wouldn't know because I'm a man so I can walk around at night without fearing some other man is going to do something awful to me. I mean, another man might do something awful to me! But it's not a presupposition like it is for a woman because men are scarier than bears and mountain lions and probably sharks. It's probably because sharks and bears and mountain lions can love unconditionally but men cannot.
This sentence shows that Chick Counterfly isn't just the insult comic of the crew who doesn't really want to be there. Chick is fascinated with the ship and its abilities and seems to truly want to be an integral part of this life. Of course, what other option does Chick have, having recently become a dead member of this haunting ghost ship? Presumably, of course! Chick might be a living boy and she also might be an undead girl! Or some combination of those! Who can really know (other than the people who have already read this book and Thomas Pynchon, of course)?
The phrase "unable to eliminate" reminds us that Chick still wants to be seen as the apathetic rebel who couldn't give two toots about anything but his emotional excitement in the grip of crewing the ship betrays him.
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