(Spoilers) UH questions and discussion

PeterZ wrote:Snerk Allert.

John, the pertinent discussion inquestion happened in UH. Emily's second child was conceived shortly before she passed away. Her comments leading up to her passing suggest several bits of happy news. Her second child is but one item.

Could other possibly happy news be a breakthrough on regeneration or on Nimitz's transmitter?

George J. Smith wrote:

PeterZ wrote:Snerk Allert.

John, the pertinent discussion inquestion happened in UH. Emily's second child was conceived shortly before she passed away. Her comments leading up to her passing suggest several bits of happy news. Her second child is but one item.

Could other possibly happy news be a breakthrough on regeneration or on Nimitz's transmitter?

It could indeed. I suspect that such news would have reached Honor before Emily, since Honor is working more closely with Dr. Arif in incorporating treecats into both the hunt for the MAlign and the SEM security apparatus. That suggests Emily wouldn't be the one sharing such info.

Brigade XO wrote:

TFLYTSNBN wrote:I know that Emily is crippled by her accident and any incorporation of Honor's aswell as Emily and Hamish's DNA would occur in the labratory, but the ideastill inspires amusing imagery of a menage au troi.

Not so much fun actually, more like Allison doing some probably fairly simple sampling of Hornor's DNA and stitching it into a sample of Emily's- at Emily's request with proper medical documentation and releases on Emily's part- before combining it with Hamish's to give Emily the combined DNA child she wanted.
Just because we can't do that now doesn't mean Allison (and Emily's GNY team) can't do that prior to Emily's death. They don't even have to change anything, just graft in replacement DNA from Emily's spouse.
The only real question is would it be something prohibited under the Beowulf (and, of course Manticroian) code of medical ethics. I don't think it would be.

I prefer my image even if it isn't realistic.

Brigade XO wrote:

TFLYTSNBN wrote:I know that Emily is crippled by her accident and any incorporation of Honor's aswell as Emily and Hamish's DNA would occur in the labratory, but the ideastill inspires amusing imagery of a menage au troi.

Not so much fun actually, more like Allison doing some probably fairly simple sampling of Hornor's DNA and stitching it into a sample of Emily's- at Emily's request with proper medical documentation and releases on Emily's part- before combining it with Hamish's to give Emily the combined DNA child she wanted.
Just because we can't do that now doesn't mean Allison (and Emily's GNY team) can't do that prior to Emily's death. They don't even have to change anything, just graft in replacement DNA from Emily's spouse.
The only real question is would it be something prohibited under the Beowulf (and, of course Manticroian) code of medical ethics. I don't think it would be.

Recall that Allison knows exactly what mods Honor and Alfred have. She would know her genetics as well. That suggests she has a clear understanding of how the Harringtons differ from the other Beta mods as well as the gene sequences that may contribute to a mind voice. Those differences are likely the Alpha Line base mods. She can isolate the mind voice gene sequences because she and Alfred have a modest ability there as well..

I would not be surprised if Allison's future child/children won't be modified to ensure they had the mind voice sequence as well. Faith and James may well have it naturally.

PeterZ wrote:

Brigade XO wrote:

Not so much fun actually, more like Allison doing some probably fairly simple sampling of Hornor's DNA and stitching it into a sample of Emily's- at Emily's request with proper medical documentation and releases on Emily's part- before combining it with Hamish's to give Emily the combined DNA child she wanted.
Just because we can't do that now doesn't mean Allison (and Emily's GNY team) can't do that prior to Emily's death. They don't even have to change anything, just graft in replacement DNA from Emily's spouse.
The only real question is would it be something prohibited under the Beowulf (and, of course Manticroian) code of medical ethics. I don't think it would be.

Recall that Allison knows exactly what mods Honor and Alfred have. She would know her genetics as well. That suggests she has a clear understanding of how the Harringtons differ from the other Beta mods as well as the gene sequences that may contribute to a mind voice. Those differences are likely the Alpha Line base mods. She can isolate the mind voice gene sequences because she and Alfred have a modest ability there as well..

I would not be surprised if Allison's future child/children won't be modified to ensure they had the mind voice sequence as well. Faith and James may well have it naturally.

Keep in mind that Allison must have some mods of her own that enabled her to have the profound empathic connection with Alfred that was apparent in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The cover art shows that she also has a nice butt.

Yeah, I assumed that Allison had the genes herself. What I am not sure is if hers were a designed modification or a naturally occurring sequence. In any case she can look for the specific sequences by comparing her's, Honor's and Alfred's DNA to a pool of DNA from people without mind voices. Odds are likely her children will have the sequence without modifications.

Emily's kids may develop a sensitivity to telepathy just like any more mundane human given the proper exposure, but won't have a true voice like Alfred and Allison's line can potentially develop. If Allison shared this possibility with Emily, that may have decided her to incorporate select gene sequences from Honor. Her children wouldn't separated from the rest of the family by being less sensitive than their sibs and cousins.

I've always wondered if there were distinctive MAlign "Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma" gene sequences. That the star lines might all have specific enhancements that could be picked out from a gene scan that would stand out as "hey, this guy is Mesan!" IIRC there's a star line gene mod that is basically "natural prolong" that all star line members would have in common.

And depending on how long ago that gene mod was introduced, what would happen when the Harringtons test positive for it. Or anyone else from a lost star line.

Galactic Sapper wrote:I've always wondered if there were distinctive MAlign "Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma" gene sequences. That the star lines might all have specific enhancements that could be picked out from a gene scan that would stand out as "hey, this guy is Mesan!" IIRC there's a star line gene mod that is basically "natural prolong" that all star line members would have in common.

And depending on how long ago that gene mod was introduced, what would happen when the Harringtons test positive for it. Or anyone else from a lost star line.

Originally, there was a Mesan genetic mod to make long-term survival on Mesa possible. It's clearly not needed for short-term existence, but it ought to stand out.

There's a good deal of arm waving here. I've commented on it before. Quite frankly, BuNine needs a geneticist, and not someone who vaguely remembers that there are dominant and recessive genes from a 40 year old high school science class.

Right now, the big issue is that the Mesan Alpha mod has to be locked, or else Honor couldn't have inherited enough of it to be interesting, given the number of generations that have passed since Stephanie Harrington.

If it's locked, it ought to stand out like a fire engine to any moderately competent geneticist.

See the problem?

JohnRoth wrote:

Galactic Sapper wrote:I've always wondered if there were distinctive MAlign "Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma" gene sequences. That the star lines might all have specific enhancements that could be picked out from a gene scan that would stand out as "hey, this guy is Mesan!" IIRC there's a star line gene mod that is basically "natural prolong" that all star line members would have in common.

And depending on how long ago that gene mod was introduced, what would happen when the Harringtons test positive for it. Or anyone else from a lost star line.

Originally, there was a Mesan genetic mod to make long-term survival on Mesa possible. It's clearly not needed for short-term existence, but it ought to stand out.

There's a good deal of arm waving here. I've commented on it before. Quite frankly, BuNine needs a geneticist, and not someone who vaguely remembers that there are dominant and recessive genes from a 40 year old high school science class.

Right now, the big issue is that the Mesan Alpha mod has to be locked, or else Honor couldn't have inherited enough of it to be interesting, given the number of generations that have passed since Stephanie Harrington.

If it's locked, it ought to stand out like a fire engine to any moderately competent geneticist.

See the problem?

The problem is all the "lost families." Remember that Alfred would have been picked up and arrested if they had it a few years earlier and Honor would never have been born.

The Mesan upgrades were clearly not THAT different from everyone. Remember that Mesans did not have the MeyerdahlB changes, but they survived in the Harringtons.

And the Harringtons seemed to attract treecats yet Mesans trying to get them never got close.

These things are just really complex and chances are there won't be all that much to find.

Note: Elizabeth Warren, a US Senator, made a claim she was part Cherokee Native American. Turned out it was 1/1024 which meant one part in ten generations. That's actually small for the typical American because there has been so much exogamy. The same is true for the Honorverse.

JohnRoth wrote:

Galactic Sapper wrote:I've always wondered if there were distinctive MAlign "Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma" gene sequences. That the star lines might all have specific enhancements that could be picked out from a gene scan that would stand out as "hey, this guy is Mesan!" IIRC there's a star line gene mod that is basically "natural prolong" that all star line members would have in common.

And depending on how long ago that gene mod was introduced, what would happen when the Harringtons test positive for it. Or anyone else from a lost star line.

Originally, there was a Mesan genetic mod to make long-term survival on Mesa possible. It's clearly not needed for short-term existence, but it ought to stand out.

There's a good deal of arm waving here. I've commented on it before. Quite frankly, BuNine needs a geneticist, and not someone who vaguely remembers that there are dominant and recessive genes from a 40 year old high school science class.

Right now, the big issue is that the Mesan Alpha mod has to be locked, or else Honor couldn't have inherited enough of it to be interesting, given the number of generations that have passed since Stephanie Harrington.

If it's locked, it ought to stand out like a fire engine to any moderately competent geneticist.

See the problem?

Assuming that they are looking and know what they are looking for.