Audrey O’Hanrahan

n7axw wrote:My own notion is that the slaver falls afoul of a Torch or BSC patrol who notices that Zach and Gail are being held in custody and begins to ask questions why...

Don

kzt wrote:Well, I'm sure that Putin is deterred by the threat of angering Canada too. And Canada can project a lot more power halfway across the planet than can a bunch of lightly armed irregulars.

n7axw wrote:One of three people we know about. Houdini was too complex and hurried not to have loose ends that no one can control.

Also, minor nit: as of the end of end of COG, Zach and Gail are still confined to quarters on that slaver. Their Gaul keeper is dead, but they are not free.

Don

fallsfromtrees wrote:
The problem is that there is no textev that Zach and Gail know where they are to go next. I can't believe that the slaver is going to go directly to their final destination (Darius?), and that the GAUL was the possessor of the itinerary. How that resolves will undoubtedly be handled in the next book or two, and will probably play a major role in foiling the MAlign's plans.

n7axw wrote:I agree with that. My only comment was to note that since they are still on that slaver, they are not yet free as of COG. That, of course, is subject to change. But let's not jump the gun.

Don

fallsfromtrees wrote:
So let's engage in some rampant speculation while we wait for RFC to write the next novel.

When the slaver gets to his next destination, he is going to hand Zach and Gail off to whom? The local Manpower manager? What's he going to do? Zach and Gail stick to their story that their escort went crazy, shot one of his charges for no reason, and they killed him in self defense. They certainly aren't going to tell him "Hi, we're part of a super secret cabal that has been running Mesa for the last 600 years, and we've kind of lost our way." I suspect the manager says, "None of my business, get off of my ship, and get lost." Now Zach and Gail can hope that another ship comes through with an escorted group on it, but the danger there is that the GAUL associated with it might well decide that the safest thing to do is kill them both, and anyone else they might have talked to just to preserve the secret that they may or may not have blabbed. Therefore talking to another GAUL is contraindicated.

I'm not sure what they are going to do at that point. So far, it appears that the two of them are still committed to the goals of the Alignment, but if they are on a station for any period of time, they will probably hear about what happened on Mesa, and they may flip flop - in which case they will be trying to find a way to get to Manticore. Suggestions?

JohnRoth wrote:I still think their most likely destination is Parmley Station. Granted, RFC could have them dropped off somewhere else, but given that he's sort of said he's wrapping it up in two more books, I don't see a subthread of them wandering all over the place.

I also suspect that their traveling orders are (supposed to be) waiting on their next destination; I don't see the GAUL having them.

Annachie wrote:

kzt wrote:Well, I'm sure that Putin is deterred by the threat of angering Canada too. And Canada can project a lot more power halfway across the planet than can a bunch of lightly armed irregulars.

Putin is solved. Our glorious Prime Minister shirtfrontef hom and sloved that situation. Just ask our PM.

Jonathan_S wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:I still think their most likely destination is Parmley Station. Granted, RFC could have them dropped off somewhere else, but given that he's sort of said he's wrapping it up in two more books, I don't see a subthread of them wandering all over the place.

I also suspect that their traveling orders are (supposed to be) waiting on their next destination; I don't see the GAUL having them.

I'd go one farther and say that the orders are waiting at their next destination, but they'd be encrypted or encoded, and only the GAUL had the key or code to decipher them. (Or possibly the orders were with the GAUL but encrypted and needed key/data the GAUL and the station had to decrypt the next one)

Either way that kind of separation protects (to some degree) against a GAUL deliberately, or accidentally, leaking the itinerary and final destination, but also protects against the way stations snooping and reading the travel orders. (Actually the 2nd might be better because then you aren't sending encrypted data all over space where the traffic itself might be noticed and subject to traffic analysis - the station decryption piece can be some key they already have since it's primary purpose is to keep the GAUL from looking ahead at the entire itinerary)

JohnRoth wrote:I still think their most likely destination is Parmley Station. Granted, RFC could have them dropped off somewhere else, but given that he's sort of said he's wrapping it up in two more books, I don't see a subthread of them wandering all over the place.

I also suspect that their traveling orders are (supposed to be) waiting on their next destination; I don't see the GAUL having them.

JohnRoth wrote:
I also suspect that their traveling orders are (supposed to be) waiting on their next destination; I don't see the GAUL having them.