Information I'd love to know

Hutch wrote:

roseandheather wrote:You know what I want? I want an explanation of what the hell was going on in the Basilisk system after Honor and Fearless went tearing off after Sirius.

...which basically means I want to know what Estelle Matsuko was up to.

You mean besides hiding under her desk?

**Hutch ducks Waffle Iron thrown at him by rose.**




Seriously, there's not much she can do, given that there is no military unit outside her people and the Marines and Honor has already transmitted a Case Zulu so I expect that she would:

* See to it that Captain Papadapolous was aware of what was going on and provide him any necessary assistance.

* Meet with various Medusans "leaders" (from the cities that they dealt with) to explain what had happened and what was happening.

* Dealt with the dozens of calls from Manticorians and others who were wondering, in the words of Vincent Thomas Lombardi, "What the Hell is going on out there?"

* Dealt with the loud protests by the Havenites about the damamge to their courier...a conversation that would be short, pungent, and a joy for us to imagine (think Oversteengen and his cousin at Erewhon).

* In her spare time, worry...about the planet, about her future, and about her friend.

IMHO as always. YMMV.

roseandheather wrote:

SWM wrote:I am far from an expert on this, but I have heard that the limitation on a woman's fertility is not because they run out of eggs. From what I understand, most women have enough eggs to be fertile for a hundred years or more, if their bodies let them.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner!!

During their natural lifetimes, women release only a fraction of the eggs they are born with. Even tripling the woman's lifespan - and therefore her fertile years - wouldn't put a woman in danger of running out of eggs. Especially when combined with other measures that can control the reproductive cycle.

The issues I would be most wary of are simple wear-and-tear on the reproductive organs. Pregnancy is a stressful process even under ideal conditions, and while tubing eliminates most of the life-or-death risks associated with it, for those who carry their pregnancies to term without tubing - like Allison Harrington - there is still a certain amount of stress put on the uterus.

Roguevictory wrote:I was re-reading AoV this morning and thought of something, has there ever been a short story covering Thomas Caparelli's Silesia incident that gets mentioned when he and Honor are discussing her medical treatment? I don't recall any but thought it might have slipped my mind.

KNick wrote:

Roguevictory wrote:I was re-reading AoV this morning and thought of something, has there ever been a short story covering Thomas Caparelli's Silesia incident that gets mentioned when he and Honor are discussing her medical treatment? I don't recall any but thought it might have slipped my mind.

Unfortunately, you did not miss a story. It was a single line that left some of us wanting more.

Amaroq wrote:I have a quick question about the Battle of Spindle. I've read through the relevant books but I'm wondering if I missed it. I know that Tenth Fleet used the Apollo missiles and their sublight telemetry links in addition to the Ghost Rider RDs to basically create almost a Keyhole platform proxy in order to better their missile throw weight and accuracy. Why did they have the heavy cruisers running the attack rather than the Nikes? Was it an issue of fire control telemetry links?

He disappeared from Terekhov's com screen, and Terekhov returned his attention to Quentin Saint-James' master plot. In many ways, he supposed, Oversteegen's Nikes might have been a better choice than his own heavy cruisers, given that the Nike was equipped with Keyhole, and the Saganami-C wasn't. In fact, before the ammunition ships Aetna and Vesuvius had arrived with their massive loads of Apollo pods, the Nikes would have been in orbit around Flax while the Saganami-Cs played the part of the beaters coming along behind the quarry. The cruisers still had a lot of control links, however. Almost certainly enough of them, coupled with Apollo, to show Crandall the error of her ways.

Amaroq wrote:I have a quick question about the Battle of Spindle. I've read through the relevant books but I'm wondering if I missed it. I know that Tenth Fleet used the Apollo missiles and their sublight telemetry links in addition to the Ghost Rider RDs to basically create almost a Keyhole platform proxy in order to better their missile throw weight and accuracy. Why did they have the heavy cruisers running the attack rather than the Nikes? Was it an issue of fire control telemetry links?

KNick wrote:
Some points to keep in mind about this battle.

Mike was not trying to destroy Crandel, she was trying to force Crandel's surrender. She did not want to kill any more than absolutely necessary.

None of 10th fleet's officers, from Mike on down realized just how effective the missiles and their fire control actually were. They were trying for mission kills, not outright destruction. They were as surprised by the results as the Sollies.

The Nikes were there in case Crandel did not get the message and pressed on regardless. Only then would they have opened fire.

If it helps, think of this as a variation of what Honor tried to do to Filareta. Same pincer, same intention, same result, just with smaller forces on both sides.

phillies wrote:

roseandheather wrote:
Ding ding ding, we have a winner!!

During their natural lifetimes, women release only a fraction of the eggs they are born with. Even tripling the woman's lifespan - and therefore her fertile years - wouldn't put a woman in danger of running out of eggs. Especially when combined with other measures that can control the reproductive cycle.

The issues I would be most wary of are simple wear-and-tear on the reproductive organs. Pregnancy is a stressful process even under ideal conditions, and while tubing eliminates most of the life-or-death risks associated with it, for those who carry their pregnancies to term without tubing - like Allison Harrington - there is still a certain amount of stress put on the uterus.

Women are not entirely fragile. As you are going to Scotland, where the relevant record was set, I would note that the record number of children born to a single woman is iirc 27. After a while, twins and triplets become more common. The record was set by a woman of the Scottish nobility some centuries ago. The important reasons for the success included (i) the diet was good by moderns standards, (ii) noblewomen were expected to be vigorously physically active, (iii) wet nursing was standard, and (iv) English physicians were not allowed.