JohnRoth wrote:It might be a good idea to review Chapter 10 of Storm from the Shadows for this thread. For instance:SotS Chapter 10 wrote:So far as the galaxy at large was aware, the planet Mesa was simply an outlaw world, home to ruthless and corrupt corporations from throughout the Solarian League's huge volume. Not a member of the League itself, Mesa nonetheless had lucrative contacts with many League worlds, which protected it and its "outlaw" owners from Solarian intervention. And, of course, the worst of the outlaws in question was none other than Manpower Incorporated, the galaxy's leading producer of genetic slaves, which had been founded by Leonard Detweiler the better part of six hundred T-years before. There were others, some of them equally disreputable and "evil" by other peoples' standards, but Manpower was clearly the standardbearer for Mesa's incredibly wealthy—and thoroughly corrupt—elite. And Manpower, equally clearly, was ruthlessly determined to protect its economic interests at any cost. Any and all of its political contacts, objectives, and strategies were obviously subordinated to that purpose.
And a bit laterSotS Chapter 10 wrote:It would no doubt have helped, in some ways, at least, if Leonard Detweiler had fully worked out his grand concept before establishing Manpower. No one could think of everything, unfortunately, and one thing Mesa's geneticists still hadn't been able to produce was prescience. Besides, he'd been provoked. His Detweiler Consortium had first settled Mesa in 1460 PD, migrating to its new home from Beowulf following the discovery of the Visigoth System's wormhole junction six T-years earlier. The Mesa System itself had first been surveyed in 1398, but until the astrogators discovered that it was home to one of the two secondary termini of the Visigoth Wormhole, it had been too far out in the back of beyond to attract development.
And furthermore:SotS Chapter 10 wrote:It was quite clear that Leonard's decision to rename the Detweiler Consortium "Manpower, Incorporated," had been intended as a thumb in the eye to the entire Beowulf establishment, and that thumb had landed exactly where he'd aimed it. And if Beowulf had been . . . upset by the Detweiler Consortium's practice of wholesale genetic modification of colonists to suit hostile environments like Mesa, it was infuriated when Manpower began producing "indentured servants" genetically designed for specific environments or specific tasks. At first, periods of indenturement on Mesa itself had been limited to no more than twenty-five T-years, although even after completing their indentures, the "genetic clients" had been denied the franchise and generally treated as second-class citizens. As they became an increasing percentage of the planetary population, however, the planetary constitution had been modified to make "indenturement" a lifelong condition. Technically, Mesa and Manpower continued to insist that there were no such things as "slaves," only "indentured servants," but while that distinction might offer at least some useful smokescreen for Mesa's allies and paid mouthpieces in places like the Solarian League's Assembly, it was meaningless to the institution's opponents.
I think these passages make it clear that Leonard Detweiler had come up with at least the basic concept of a Mesan conspiracy of some kind to IMPOSE genetic upliftment on the rest of humanity.
We know that Manpower is only the first layer of the Onion, meant to distract any likely opponents of the Detweiler plan from the real conspiracy (i.e. the Alignment).
There are several mentions in the books that it is in fact the Alignment's goal to conquer and rule the rest of humanity. One of them was an internal dialogue by Jack whatshisname (Brighton?) when he was first becoming disillusioned with the Alignment, after Simoes' daughter was murdered, wherein he was quite clear about the terrible consequences awaiting 'normal' humans should the Alignment's plans succeed.
Albrecht Detweiler himself mentioned several times the Alignment's plans to replace the League as the dominant star nation - a position from which it'd then be able to implement its plan.
I don't think there is any doubt that the Alignment is in fact planning to set itself up as the ruling class over a galaxy-wide imperium, within which 'normal' humans would essentially become peons. It has already created such a social matrix on Darius, after all. I mean, if it was the Alignment's intention to treat 'normal' humans as equals to its own 'uplifted' members, why then recreate Mesa's slave society on what is for all intents and purposes the heartland of the Alignment?
