HFQ Official Snippet #11

ALL: I would tend to put my money on OWL. There is nothing to say that a hologram couldn't be sitting in the front seat. How would the back passenger even know?

Keelhaul - don't ask how,
'cause the dog ain't talking.

Hildum wrote:

SHV wrote:" I don't know of any one else who could pilot the 2nd recon skimmer."
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Owl pilots the skimmer to and from the cave for the majority of Merlin's trips; don't see why he isn't the "pilot" of the second skimmer on this trip.

Steve

Randomiser wrote:Mainly because the text says, 'Besides, the second recon skimmer had let him bring along a second pilot.' Merlin didn't need a second skimmer to bring along OWL. Natural way of taking it is that he brought along another pilot they could see and meet.

Perhaps Caleb has been learning to fly? It would not surprise me that this would be something he would want to do.

It's entirely possible that Cayleb has been training to fly a skimmer in VR, but I haven't seen anything that could indicate this in the books.

The most likely candidate is Nimue, she probably have had a skimmer stashed nearby her location for emergency purposes which makes sense IMO.

Hildum wrote: quote="Randomiser" quote="SHV" " I don't know of any one else who could pilot the 2nd recon skimmer."
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Owl pilots the skimmer to and from the cave for the majority of Merlin's trips; don't see why he isn't the "pilot" of the second skimmer on this trip.

Steve /quote

Mainly because the text says, 'Besides, the second recon skimmer had let him bring along a second pilot.' Merlin didn't need a second skimmer to bring along OWL. Natural way of taking it is that he brought along another pilot they could see and meet./quote

Perhaps Caleb has been learning to fly? It would not surprise me that this would be something he would want to do.

When would any of the inner circle have time to learn to fly? They are too public to be able to devote the time to learn how - and let us face it, they do not have the technical background to do so. If RFC had said, "Bring someone else along in the pilot's seat while owl flew it", then I could see Cayleb being there, after all he has yet to see Nimue's cave, but since he didn't say that the only eligible pilot is Nimue.

I had a thought...

It may be that we are taking this in the wrong direction. Consider the following....

1) The temple is the end goal. It was built around the time of the first holy war. During that war, seijins and demons were running around with federation tech weapons. I would imagine that it is tough enough to withstand such an attack. An army of regular troops with safehold tech would not stand a chance.

2) Both Merlin and Aivah would know this. Merlin from his original training and Aivah from the journals. So they would both know that a group trained with advanced tech may be needed to crack it. We also know that Aivah plans ahead to the extreme.

3) Please remember that much of the tech still inside the temple is still active. The guards used an override code to open the door on the Vicar Wilson. The occupants may think of it as holy and not understand it, but they do know how to use it.

Given those points, the airbuses and going to the cave may actually make sense. This presumes we are looking at the beginning of the end game. It would take time to get the trusted troops, and then train them. Time enough for the conventional war to continue.

ETathome wrote:I had a thought...

It may be that we are taking this in the wrong direction. Consider the following....

1) The temple is the end goal. It was built around the time of the first holy war. During that war, seijins and demons were running around with federation tech weapons. I would imagine that it is tough enough to withstand such an attack. An army of regular troops with safehold tech would not stand a chance.

2) Both Merlin and Aivah would know this. Merlin from his original training and Aivah from the journals. So they would both know that a group trained with advanced tech may be needed to crack it. We also know that Aivah plans ahead to the extreme.

3) Please remember that much of the tech still inside the temple is still active. The guards used an override code to open the door on the Vicar Wilson. The occupants may think of it as holy and not understand it, but they do know how to use it.

Given those points, the airbuses and going to the cave may actually make sense. This presumes we are looking at the beginning of the end game. It would take time to get the trusted troops, and then train them. Time enough for the conventional war to continue.

This one actually sounds plausible... I haven't the foggiest idea if this is in the ball park as far as the way things will go... but plausible.

The last snippet cut short the trip, so perhaps we will get more of a clue as to what is going on with the next one.

Don

If I just had time to read all of them, I'd be hungry for the book. As it is, even (semi)retired, there isn't enough time. Mostly because the pubic libraries are my primary source - if we bought all the books we read the house would be even fuller than at present I get it honestly, my parent's home had half the staircase filled with orange crate bookcases. Talk about overstuffed houses: when I visited home, we had to move things off the bed so there would be a place for me to sleep. BJ & I use a wood stove, compost, and throw out trash, and only one of DW's books has left yet. Some repairs were needed

BJ's favorite nickname for me is bookworm; glad she is one herself or we wouldn't get along as well, even though our tastes differ.

DDHv wrote:If I just had time to read all of them, I'd be hungry for the book. As it is, even (semi)retired, there isn't enough time. Mostly because the pubic libraries are my primary source - if we bought all the books we read the house would be even fuller than at present I get it honestly, my parent's home had half the staircase filled with orange crate bookcases. Talk about overstuffed houses: when I visited home, we had to move things off the bed so there would be a place for me to sleep. BJ & I use a wood stove, compost, and throw out trash, and none of DW's books have left yet. Some repairs were needed

BJ's favorite nickname for me is bookworm; glad she is one herself or we wouldn't get along as well, even though our tastes differ.

This is why B&N invented the nook!

Don

n7axw wrote:As the weary veteran of a lot of time studying different languages, I remember wishing that I had a photographic memory. It would have made the task at hand so much easier... unfortunately, my memory leaks like a sieve.

Don

I remember patterns and methods but have problems with details. Storing schematics, programs, etc. in a systematic way so they can easily be found again is very important for me. Could all the practice be why my skill at figuring things out (often again) is so well developed

It also results in some creativity since there is a tendency to do things somewhat differently each time. When a better method is discovered, training to make it a habit helps a lot

n7axw wrote:

DDHv wrote:If I just had time to read all of them, I'd be hungry for the book. As it is, even (semi)retired, there isn't enough time. Mostly because the pubic libraries are my primary source - if we bought all the books we read the house would be even fuller than at present I get it honestly, my parent's home had half the staircase filled with orange crate bookcases. Talk about overstuffed houses: when I visited home, we had to move things off the bed so there would be a place for me to sleep. BJ & I use a wood stove, compost, and throw out trash, and none of DW's books have left yet. Some repairs were needed

BJ's favorite nickname for me is bookworm; glad she is one herself or we wouldn't get along as well, even though our tastes differ.

This is why B&N invented the nook!

Don

Funny, I can read a paper product for several hours. Nook and Kindle = eyestrain. And I've tried the adjustments.