cthia wrote:cthia wrote:Surely someone is expecting me to point this out. If not,
them don't know me too well. Firing on helpless ships that are in the process of abandoning its survivors — who are protected by the Deneb Accords or not — is more of that very same
appreciation of Manty capabilities born from the sheer fear of Manty weight of metal, that gripped Byng when he fired on helpless battlecruisers. . .
If I were a psychologist
of my sister's metal.
Even if only subconsciously,
SLN officers know what time it is.
runsforcelery wrote:Uh, no, not really. Except, perhaps, very indirectly. It's an act born of rage and fury, which may have a fear component, but is much more the result of focused anger and hatred for 2 reasons. (1) What the Manties have just done to his command; (2) fury that neobarbs should have been capable of doing it in the first place. As I say, fear is in there somewhere, but it's much more a matter of an affront to his arrogance and of vengeance for the losses he's already taken.
I understsnd what you are saying RFC, and I'll never question the Legos of your world in the manner as I did in another thread ever again. But you did say you didn't want deification. So please forgive me my honesty here.
As a fan, when I read the entire Machiavellian malignant plan involving Byng and Giselle simply exploding, not only could I
feel Byng's fear, I could smell it, and I felt it running down my leg as a result of some freak inexplicable, undocumented ghost phenomena. LOL
I'm half American Indian and it's true that animals can "smell fear." One of my five awesome sisters is a psychologist, and she once stated that fear and love are the two most powerful emotions affecting humans. And each can be debilitating. Gripped by fear is real, it's as instinctive as breathing. We've all experienced moments of immobility, like deers frozen in headlights.
When my sister told me that, I said sis, "What about pain? It is strong too." Of course she proceeded to explain to me that pain, other than psychological pain, isn't really an emotion. "But regardless, it isn't as strong as either love or fear. Any human can be experiencing the worst sort of debilitating pain on the planet, but if something suddenly frightens the skin off of his back, he'll realize that he's run a country mile, completely oblivious of the pain. What pain?" I had to concede.
I mentioned on the forum on several occasions that I had an English teacher who once told me "You have an uncanny ability to become the character which is so refreshing. Don't ever lose that." When a teacher as beautiful as she tells you that, you make a note and a point of keeping that promise. LOL
I will always feel Byng's excrement running down my leg whenever I read that passage. IMO, fear took over every other sense he had. As a matter of fact, whoever planned that malignant trap on Byng is a genius. I assume it was Anisimovna, the point where I began to fall in love with her. . . brilliance. Using fear as the main ingredient and his hatred for all things Manticoran, that plan didn't have a snowballs chance in hell of failing.
As a reader, I will be hard-pressed to shake off the feeling that Byng was gripped by one of the two most powerful emotions of humanity. Plain old fear. It is interesting to note that mankind both loves and fears his maker.
Late Edit:When Giselle inexplicably blew, Byng's eyes grew to the size of grapefruits.
Fear took over from there. Pure, plain, unadulterated primal fear. First he said it, then he did it.
"Oh shit!"Fear has a way of cutting through the bulls**t of what one truly feels.
"Manties! Those phucking Manties!"One can't lie to ones fear.
Anger and rage were the minor components of the much more major emotion.
As a matter of fact, rage and anger comes immediately after one has gotten a handle on the fear, as a natural reflex action. Like the many times, as an average annoying little kid, when I popped out of a closet to frighten one of my unsuspecting sisters and was pleased that she was screaming with fear. Then seeing that fear turn to rage and anger, then seeing my life flash before my eyes along with it.
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