Harrington Genome, and the Mesans

cthia wrote:For the record, is the reason the Harrington line was lost because they boarded a U-Haul just in the nick of time? Which would logically imply still more lost lines.

There's probably a lot of them. But I don't think anyone cares that they turned out to be middle management in a Solarian company or land-holder in the Verge. Only when someone happens to royally screw up their plans by displaying disproportionate talent would they notice.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

cthia wrote:For the record, is the reason the Harrington line was lost because they boarded a U-Haul just in the nick of time? Which would logically imply still more lost lines.

There's probably a lot of them. But I don't think anyone cares that they turned out to be middle management in a Solarian company or land-holder in the Verge. Only when someone happens to royally screw up their plans by displaying disproportionate talent would they notice.

As has been mentioned more than once on this board, how many alpha line children over the generations never were told the truth of their family's purpose? In my family, I couldn't see my Parents letting in my younger sister on a secret like that when she matured. And that's just parents selectively passing on the knowledge- how many children "rebel" and ignore their calling, or have to be dealt with in an aircar accident to keep them from talking?

Even if the children were secluded, sent to special Onion schools and Camps, so they were throughly indoctrinated at an early age and continually given the inclusion growing up, so any reveal was gentle, or unnecessary, there is a percentage of children that simply won't or shouldn't take part in the great plan.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

cthia wrote:For the record, is the reason the Harrington line was lost because they boarded a U-Haul just in the nick of time? Which would logically imply still more lost lines.

There's probably a lot of them. But I don't think anyone cares that they turned out to be middle management in a Solarian company or land-holder in the Verge. Only when someone happens to royally screw up their plans by displaying disproportionate talent would they notice.

Theemile wrote:As has been mentioned more than once on this board, how many alpha line children over the generations never were told the truth of their family's purpose? In my family, I couldn't see my Parents letting in my younger sister on a secret like that when she matured. And that's just parents selectively passing on the knowledge- how many children "rebel" and ignore their calling, or have to be dealt with in an aircar accident to keep them from talking?

Even if the children were secluded, sent to special Onion schools and Camps, so they were throughly indoctrinated at an early age and continually given the inclusion growing up, so any reveal was gentle, or unnecessary, there is a percentage of children that simply won't or shouldn't take part in the great plan.

Indeed, on all points, both of you. However, personally, I think any healthy human brain can develop Alpha-like qualities through positive encouragement. Or other factors. We've had a few Alphas ourselves. See Einstein.

Sheltering a child from the truth could also work in the Alignment's favor if the child grows up to be exceptional, yet the black sheep of the family. Think Tiffany Trump. Then, she/he might be amenable to the truth, and if so, a possible mole in the lost family.

Also, I think we should consider that a child's true calling can be found as a result of their rebellion. Imagine if Alfred and Alison pushed Honor to be a doctor.

[/quoteThinksMarkedly wrote:
I disagree, somewhat. Those members of the alignment that were found were alignment members, but of the outer onion.

Almost certainly not. The point was to create a decoy group entirely separate from the actual onion with no traceable ties between them.

But just take the rest of the McBrides: they are alpha lines. They probably know very well that they've been genetically-manipulated for generations. They just aren't part of the inner onion like Jack and Zach were (and Jack was much deeper than Zach).


I hate to break it to you, but the McBrides are dead. All of them but Zach, anyway. They weren't useful enough to move but knew entirely too much to be permitted to live. Everyone who even knew the onion existed was killed or evacuated, or left to die when their nanites timed out. In their particular case, even if they wouldn't have been purged for knowing about the onion in general the Malignment would have killed them in particular because the GA knew about Jack and couldn't risk them being questioned. Zach may not have worked through it far enough to realize that quite yet, but they're gone.

You can't move everyone who's a first- or second-generation descendant of an alpha line to Darius. More to the point: they didn't try. So there'll be a lot of alpha lines and probably even more beta and gamma to be found on Mesa.

Most of them are radioactive ash at this point. You're right, they couldn't move them all off and didn't try to. That doesn't mean they're still on Mesa in a condition to be questioned.
Last edited by Galactic Sapper on Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm new here but I disagree. The McBrides are very much alive. I reread the Shadow of Victory and from what I gather, there were at least 30 nuke detonations on the planet, the largest one was on the island where Detweiler was on which was around 2 megatons and the rest were in the kiloton range. If I am not mistaken, the McBrides live in the capital city of Mendel. If there was a nuke detonation or multiple detonations in downtown Mendel and government facilities in the city, it would have been mentioned by Domica Adenauer because that would be significant militarily and politically for Adm. Henke on how she would negotiate with a very angry and frightened Mesan government and military and the secces. With most of the Gauls and the inner Onion Mesan Alignment either dead or in Darius, I doubt the McBrides and the other remaining outer layers of the MA Onion will be very much threatened by the remaining inner onion MA.

One poster suggested that the Saracen Tower was nuked the second time to get the McBrides. I don't think so for several reasons. If they want to kill the McBrides, they could have done it the first time around using a much bigger nuclear device. Second, every military, intelligence and law enforcement personnel from Mesa, Manticore, Grayson, Andi, Haven, and the Solarian League will wonder why the Tower was nuked the second time around. Nuking it the second time in peace-time is a red flag to these people and organizations. Knowing Anton and Victor, they will thoroughly investigate. Third, there is a big possibility that the McBrides might have evacuated the Tower after the first MA terrorist attack and moved to a much safer place in Mendel.

So yes, the possibility that Cachat and Anton will be talking to the surviving members of the McBride family will be quite high. I also suspect that General Gaddis and Admiral Kingsford will covertly send Colonel Okiku and Major Tarkovsky using the Solarian League fact-finding team as a cover to Mesa to interface with the two legendary operatives and start comparing notes along with Adm. Henke and Tourville.

The question mark will be Audrey O'Hanrahan. She likes her regular job too much and she had enthusiastically embraced her role as a secret agent for the Alignment. There's a chance that the Cachat and Zwilwicki Inc. and the Ghost Hunters will be playing a cat and mouse game with her and her cover being blown in a big way.

The game-changer here will be the Mesan Government, military and it's people when they find out the truth about the millions of Mesan civilian deaths and who caused it. I have a feeling that finding MA bolthole will be the priority and the Mesan navy will be tagging along with GA Fleet and the Frontier Fleet to locate and destroy the MA fleet and hang the Detweiler boys.