Why no Detweiler regular kids?

Though Green Pines(?) probably put a big scare into one of them.

I'd expect that he'd have another child by now.

Thank you, RFC.

ldwechsler wrote:Reading Uncompromising Honor it is clear that the seven Det kids were clones of their dad.(Interestingly, right now clones are just about all female).

But it also says that Albrecht and Evalina were carefully genetically matched. What would the purpose be for that if the kids were all clones?

I wonder if there are not other kids, ones with genes from mama out there.

They would be an interesting counterpoint to the clones.

Any ideas?

Okay, so I am going to try one more time. My server and my email connection have been wonky all day, and I have tried three times to post a response to this burning question, only to find that my post wasn't there anymore when I got done.

On the Albrecht and Evelina question.

They were matched very carefully genetically for two reasons. One, although it was a bit secondary, was to make sure that they had the right assortment of inherent skills and abilities to raise the decisive generation of Detweilers. The other because their combined genotypes would produce a genetically superior child with the randomization element that didn't happen in carefully genegineered offspring.

In fact, Albrecht and Evelina have dozens of genetic children; they simply didn't raise any of them themselves. And the reason that they didn't was that they knew that the boys' upbringing was not going to be a normal one. From the cradle, the boys were groomed to be Albrecht's lieutenants in the final phase of the Detweiler Plan. They were raised by parents who did not exist in the middle of a nature reserve that had no human habitations, and until they were old enough for their discretion to be trusted, they were isolated from anyone who wasn't part of the innermost center of the onion. They were also raised by parents who love them very much and who wished that they didn't have to be reared under those constraints. But they did, and Albrecht and Evelina refused to subject any of their other children to the same stresses and the same circumscribed childhood. Which means that there are a whole bunch of Detweilers, none of whom have any idea that they are Detweilers, living with families in the benign Mesan Alignment on Mesa because they were placed with their adoptive families by the Genetics Board. For that matter, even the Genetics Board doesn't have a clue who their parents really were, because their entire placement was very carefully shepherded by plants from the inner onion on the Board. And, of course, the people who actually engineered the placements were among those "killed by terrorists" during Operation Houdini.

runsforcelery wrote:

ldwechsler wrote:Reading Uncompromising Honor it is clear that the seven Det kids were clones of their dad.(Interestingly, right now clones are just about all female).

But it also says that Albrecht and Evalina were carefully genetically matched. What would the purpose be for that if the kids were all clones?

I wonder if there are not other kids, ones with genes from mama out there.

They would be an interesting counterpoint to the clones.

Any ideas?

Okay, so I am going to try one more time. My server and my email connection have been wonky all day, and I have tried three times to post a response to this burning question, only to find that my post wasn't there anymore when I got done.

On the Albrecht and Evelina question.

They were matched very carefully genetically for two reasons. One, although it was a bit secondary, was to make sure that they had the right assortment of inherent skills and abilities to raise the decisive generation of Detweilers. The other because their combined genotypes would produce a genetically superior child with the randomization element that didn't happen in carefully genegineered offspring.

In fact, Albrecht and Evelina have dozens of genetic children; they simply didn't raise any of them themselves. And the reason that they didn't was that they knew that the boys' upbringing was not going to be a normal one. From the cradle, the boys were groomed to be Albrecht's lieutenants in the final phase of the Detweiler Plan. They were raised by parents who did not exist in the middle of a nature reserve that had no human habitations, and until they were old enough for their discretion to be trusted, they were isolated from anyone who wasn't part of the innermost center of the onion. They were also raised by parents who love them very much and who wished that they didn't have to be reared under those constraints. But they did, and Albrecht and Evelina refused to subject any of their other children to the same stresses and the same circumscribed childhood. Which means that there are a whole bunch of Detweilers, none of whom have any idea that they are Detweilers, living with families in the benign Mesan Alignment on Mesa because they were placed with their adoptive families by the Genetics Board. For that matter, even the Genetics Board doesn't have a clue who their parents really were, because their entire placement was very carefully shepherded by plants from the inner onion on the Board. And, of course, the people who actually engineered the placements were among those "killed by terrorists" during Operation Houdini.

My God! The others did go through. Told you the server was being wonky!

living with families in the benign Mesan Alignment on Mesa

Perhap they were living with families on Mesa.

They'd either be houdini'd or radioactive dust by now.

Annachie wrote:

living with families in the benign Mesan Alignment on Mesa

Perhap they were living with families on Mesa.

They'd either be houdini'd or radioactive dust by now.

Why? They don't know who their biological parents were, and neither do their adoptive parents. There is nothing at all to tie them to the onion core.

runsforcelery wrote:living with families in the benign Mesan Alignment on Mesa

Annachie wrote:
Perhap they were living with families on Mesa.

They'd either be houdini'd or radioactive dust by now.

runsforcelery wrote:
Why? They don't know who their biological parents were, and neither do their adoptive parents. There is nothing at all to tie them to the onion core.

I think there's some confusion about what the "benign" Mesan Aiignment is. (And I've never heard the term "benign" used for the Mesan Alignment before.)

As far as I can tell, the outer husk is a "secret society" of a million or so members who are following Leonard Detweiller's original vision of genetic uplift, and who regard genetic slavery as a major perversion of that vision. Most of them have no clue about the inner core of the Onion or what it's doing. They do, however, enjoy the benefits of the genetic uplift program, which isn't shared with the rest of Mesa. This is where the Mesan Genetic Consultancy comes in.

That inner core evaluates children to see if they're suitable candidates for roles farther inside the Onion. Most of their families are blissfully unaware of this. The "secret society" thing means that everyone knows how to keep their mouth firmly shut - and they do have the genetic uplift thing to keep quiet about.

They're not the ones that were being removed during Operation Houdini, and for the most part were not touched by it.

At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking with it until told otherwise by RFC.

I’m not sure it’s that small. And it’s a secret society like the masons are a secret society.

Must admit, I missed the "Benign" part.
Also figured that leaving so many siblings who are in different adoptive famalies would be the sort of thing they wouldn't leave behind.

Houdini cleaned up similar things.

Annachie wrote:Must admit, I missed the "Benign" part.
Also figured that leaving so many siblings who are in different adoptive famalies would be the sort of thing they wouldn't leave behind.

Houdini cleaned up similar things.

I think the point you may be missing is that they are in different adoptive families and that those families have zero connection to the inner onion. The adoptive parents never even heard of the inner onion.

Once you get inside the members of the Mesan Alignment who aren't part of the inner onion, you're looking at an entirely different mindset. You are also looking at a much larger structure in which there are many hundreds, even thousands, of adoptive families raising genetically engineered clones as their own children. Many of those clones are genetically identical to one another (or very close to that) as part of the uplift program that's been ongoing for generations. There is nothing to distinguish Albrecht's and Evelina's children from all that "background noise." The worst that could happen would be that a painstaking genetic analysis of all adoptive children would reveal that these particular people are biological siblings; there is no way anyone could trace them back to A & E or the inner onion. All anyone could say about them is that they got some really good genes from whoever's sperm and ova were combined to produce them.

A sufficiently close study could trace them back on Evelina's side, but she officially "died" when she married Albrecht. On his side, the trail goes cold immediately, which might pop a mild red flag for the terminally (or constructively) paranoid, but the Consultancy has lots of "anonymous donor" genetic material, and there are bunches of people in the Mesan general population who are at least distantly descended from Leonard Detweiller. The direct line is (officially) extinct; there are oodles of collateral relationships. So even if they had the Detweiller genome for comparison, it wouldn't necessarily prove a thing. And those children--- and their parents --- would be horrified by the Detweiller Plan (as practiced by the inner onion) if they knew about it.