Somtaaw wrote:ThinksMarkedly wrote:Also, if he had known what to look for, would Genghis have acted earlier?
Genghis was seemingly in the room for more than a few minutes, as they were there specifically to sample everyone's minds, keep in mind Queen Berry was already several minutes later (I think it was well over 30mins to be exact). Presumably Genghis and his human were there from just before all the Solarian perfume representatives started arriving, and gone through preliminary security (Palace Gates sort of check).
I have to reread now, but I remember Judson and Genghis arriving after they were already in the room.
There were clearly just enough company representatives the nanite infectee slipped through the initial security checks and it took Genghis and his human quite a while to notice exactly 1 briefcase with samples being in the entire room and that clued them in to move to go take a second closer look. Except by that point it was too late, Queen Berry arrived and that triggered Genghis into attack mode.
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But since he'd been in the same room as Genghis for possibly as long as an hour (arrival, basic security check, Berry being late), that low-grade hypnosis and/or non-physical nanite control is all but confirmed as undetectable to treecat senses. Same thing as Tim Meares trying to kill Honor.. surely he was in the same room with her at least once before he finally triggered on flag bridge, but she never once sensed a thing until Tim activated and pulled Spencer's pulser.
Sorry, I disagree. The fact that Genghis didn't act sooner only proves that Genghis detected nothing immediately threatening, not that he detected nothing at all. This is what my question up above is meant to ask: had he known what to look for, would Genghis have acted sooner?
Both this and Tim Meares' action were the first time treecats (and Honor) were exposed to nanite controlled humans. No one knew they could perceive control at all, much less determine that it was a threat, not the treecats, not Honor, not the MAlign. So it's possible that Genghis detected the low-grade internal conflict, but didn't know it to be any different than regular two-leg internal conflict.
Genghis didn't survive this encounter, but both Honor and Nimitz did. Nimitz' language transmitter is damaged, but we know he could still communicate with Honor by way of images and impressions, which may be enough to communicate with others. And we know the GA security services detected a number of moles and controlled patsies with help from treecats later on, so it's an almost certainty that they now know what to look for.
That seems to be the threshold, the moment the nanites actually take physical control and your mind goes into the backseat screaming; no treecat or Harrington can sense the lurking threat. Anything before hand, and you're effectively Agent 47, invisible yet in plain sight and nobody knows just how close Death is lurking.
For Tim, that appears to have been the case. He knew nothing about it and didn't seem to be conflicted, until the trigger conditions were present. William Tyler (the pharmaceutical rep) was already conflicted before the trigger because he was carrying the weapon.
So back to the possibility of an assassination at Dempsey's, an assassin carrying a weapon might be detected by the treecat before the attempt even happens. An assassin not carrying a weapon needs to have a trigger for something they can use as a weapon, which limits the possibilities.
