Disabling the Hahskyn-Varna Canal? (HFQ Spoilers)

They wouldn't need to understand what they were actually looking at to realize that the materials involved represent a radical departure from anything they'd ever seen to that point, though. How much of a bad thing that would really be is up for debate, I'd imagine.

n7axw wrote:

Loren Pechtel wrote:
No. He can't drop laser-guided bombs on land--that will leave bits of the guidance unit that might be found. He can only hit targets at sea.

Maybe. But I would think that the guidance unit would be rather thoroughly blown up. Would there be anything left that would be comprehensible to any Safeholden who examined it? I find myself doubting that....in fact I doubt that anyone on Safehold outside the inner circle could identify and make sense of a guidance unit even if they happened across one intact.

Don

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AAMOF, current experience is that bits and pieces like guidance units and fuses can survive remarkably intact. Even nuclear weapons aren't as effective at vapourising everything around them as is generally assumed.

n7axw wrote:

Loren Pechtel wrote:
No. He can't drop laser-guided bombs on land--that will leave bits of the guidance unit that might be found. He can only hit targets at sea.

Maybe. But I would think that the guidance unit would be rather thoroughly blown up. Would there be anything left that would be comprehensible to any Safeholden who examined it? I find myself doubting that....in fact I doubt that anyone on Safehold outside the inner circle could identify and make sense of a guidance unit even if they happened across one intact.

Don

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Undercover Fat Kid wrote:They wouldn't need to understand what they were actually looking at to realize that the materials involved represent a radical departure from anything they'd ever seen to that point, though. How much of a bad thing that would really be is up for debate, I'd imagine.

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Agreed. What it would amount to would be finding something so completely out of synch with present knowledge that there would be no frame of reference for interpretation.

So not knowing what you have in a context where the world view is religious, what do you think? Angels, demons, puzzlement? I can imagine all three, but maybe a bit more of the latter.

Then, too, how systematically would a bomb crater be examined? Probably not very. Mostly the debris would be shoved out of the way to make way for replacing what the bomb destroyed.

Don

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Merlin has tractor rays. Why bother with a guidance mechanism in the bomb?

phillies wrote:Merlin has tractor rays. Why bother with a guidance mechanism in the bomb?

Good question. Apparently to avoid using TF tech to avoid attracting the attention of the OBS... But he has been using those tractor rays on other occasions..., so???

Don

When a section of canal is above the surrounding land, it should be possible to drain it by using explosives to make a small ditch across the bank. Roads have been washed out when the water flow crossed them. Preferably, this should be done in an area which isn't well patrolled, so the washout will have time to take effect. Whether the explosives are hand delivered, artillery shells, or whatever doesn't matter, as far as the washout occurs, but it has to be below the water level. A drilled hole would also work.

phillies wrote:Merlin has tractor rays. Why bother with a guidance mechanism in the bomb?

Habit? Why not? They're not being used on occasions where there would be embarrassing leftovers, and if there were, remotes would likely sweep the area for them afterward.

It probably is an oversight on Merlin's part - it just looks like an understandable and harmless one.

n7axw wrote:

Loren Pechtel wrote:
No. He can't drop laser-guided bombs on land--that will leave bits of the guidance unit that might be found. He can only hit targets at sea.

Maybe. But I would think that the guidance unit would be rather thoroughly blown up. Would there be anything left that would be comprehensible to any Safeholden who examined it? I find myself doubting that....in fact I doubt that anyone on Safehold outside the inner circle could identify and make sense of a guidance unit even if they happened across one intact.

Don

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It wouldn't be comprehensible. It would be alien, though, and that's a bad thing.

Loren Pechtel wrote:
It wouldn't be comprehensible. It would be alien, though, and that's a bad thing.

You might be right. Let's assume they do identify it as alien which is not something that can be presumed. What do they do with that tidbit? Not really much of anything that I can see... maybe hold it up and say, "here's proof that bad guys are consorting with demons..." But unless it's something ordinary people can understand, there wouldn't be any real propagaonda value in it.

So I doubt that it would be a big deal...

Don

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phillies wrote:Merlin has tractor rays. Why bother with a guidance mechanism in the bomb?

Might as well ignore the bomb and grab the side of the lock or raised canal with the tractor and collapse it.