Page 189: GO AWAY!

[Arioch]

I'm just wondering how much control Jardin has in this not-dream - yelling out after hearing a warning in a very bad environment isn't the best. If he's in full control and that's his personality, "Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself" is the nicest way I can describe his behavior.

It's a dream and he knows it's a dream. Self-preservation is not really a concern.

[boldilocks]

I'm just wondering how much control Jardin has in this not-dream - yelling out after hearing a warning in a very bad environment isn't the best. If he's in full control and that's his personality, "Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself" is the nicest way I can describe his behavior.

It's a dream and he knows it's a dream. Self-preservation is not really a concern.

If he's playing the part of fireblade in the dream, I assume she's having a pretty weird experience. Like dreaming that you're suddenly acting like a blind/deaf person wandering around going "WHAT? WHO'S THERE?!" while at the same time you're aware that everyone around you is trying to shush you.

[Contraltissimo]

Oh, I do have an account.

I just wanted to say....

....

Oh my heart.

D:

[CrimsonFALKE]

Oh damn this will end badly

[JQBogus]

Q: the mom and child don't have hair. I find it interesting that they have access to scalp shaving, while trying to survive and stay together.
I'd expect priorities to shift in such cases, and hair to grow abundantly.

They've used (or have had used on them) a chemical depilatory treatment, I'd assume. Perhaps even a permanent one... If the younger one is Fireblade, perhaps her glorious red mane is a wig, and this is why she sleeps alone!

[boldilocks]

It's interesting that in his dream his suit is dimming from the more pure white it was in the prologue, as if it's being drenched in blood slowly, or as if he's existing under a sort of red glare, while his surroundings are existing under a blue glare of light.

[dragoongfa]

It's interesting that in his dream his suit is dimming from the more pure white it was in the prologue, as if it's being drenched in blood slowly, or as if he's existing under a sort of red glare, while his surroundings are existing under a blue glare of light.

I took it as a clue of each dreamer's input. The 'pinkish' hue for Alex's and the blue for Fireblade.

[Krulle]

besides dragoongfa's idea (which is also one I had):
a different sun gives a different light, and the same item will look differently just alone because of that. (Although in a dream sequence this will likely not come into play)


@dragoongfa: I concur with you, that indeed these are either "crèche siblings", or a care-taker and her protégé.

[Zorg56]

Fireblade after this:

[CaptEndo]

I agree with Dragoonfa’s assessment of the lighting. The Loroi survivors are tattooed, I wonder if they are RFID tagged as well?

[Diodri]

It would be interesting if the lighting was different because this planet (Seren presumably?) orbits a blue star.

[DCR]

So Fireblade isn't the child. Maybe. Distance/haze/dream may be muddling the eye colors. (Think I'm 0 for 47 on wild guesses but the joy is another page, not guessing right)

[raistlin34]

Fireblade after this:

For little we know about her, she is more likely to grab Alex and threaten him with an one-ticket-trip via airlock unless he explain himself RIGHT NOW...
...with the added problem Alex still cannot hear her Sanzai, and Fireblade won't believe it.

[Mk_C]

For little we know about her, she is more likely to grab Alex and threaten him with an one-ticket-trip via airlock unless he explain himself RIGHT NOW...
...with the added problem Alex still cannot hear her Sanzai, and Fireblade won't believe it.

Seeing as this does not appear to be the normal way sanzai works - it's more likely that the mutual reaction will be "What in the name of all the bloody things was THAT?"

I wouldn't be be surprised if it takes both of them some time to even spill the beans to the rest of the gang. Alex knows to keep things to himself right now, and we do know that Fireblade is not the talkative type even towards her comrades, especially on personal issues.

My money would be on this little encounter staying their little secret for a little while.

[dragoongfa]

For little we know about her, she is more likely to grab Alex and threaten him with an one-ticket-trip via airlock unless he explain himself RIGHT NOW...
...with the added problem Alex still cannot hear her Sanzai, and Fireblade won't believe it.

Seeing as this does not appear to be the normal way sanzai works - it's more likely that the mutual reaction will be "What in the name of all the bloody things was THAT?"

I wouldn't be be surprised if it takes both of them some time to even spill the beans to the rest of the gang. Alex knows to keep things to himself right now, and we do know that Fireblade is not the talkative type even towards her comrades, especially on personal issues.

My money would be on this little encounter staying their little secret for a little while.

Unless this whole 'experience' was orchestrated by Tempo; it's her prerogative to get to the telepathic bottom of things and if the Loroi have gotten any sort of hint that Alex somehow 'senses' Fireblade then she may have set this whole thing up. Don't forget that she has been having sanzai discussions in the background whenever we have seen her.

Hell, Alex suddenly waking up at the peak of the 'nightmare' may as well be the 'fish' biting the 'hook' for all we know. Proof for this pet theory will depend if Tempo and Fireblade are touching while Fireblade is sleeping.

[Mk_C]

Unless this whole 'experience' was orchestrated by Tempo

Now this would be a bamboozle to rule them all. A neato twist, but I fail to see how it would develop further ahead. If she wanted, Tempo probably could've conducted this sort of an experiment back when Alex was in isolation (no matter their disagreements, Stillstorm would've approved of finding out more about the supposed infiltrator), and it doesn't prove anything useful for her beyond Alex having a degree of unwitting reception, and by design it can't really prove much more than that. And at the same time this is some stone cold manipulation, painful for both Fireblade and Alex, using their deepest personal vulnerabilities against them both to achieve... what? Alex is not even exposed as a spy or a danger of any sort by proving that he can unwittingly hear Fireblade's telepathic nightmare screams. The only thing it definitely proves is that Tempo is intrusive and untrustworthy to a troubling degree, if any of the participants ever find out her involvement. Beryl carefully asked for Jardin's consent to even physically touch him for an attempt at a willing sanzai communication. Tempo's meddling would be an intrusion into the most sensitive personal trauma of both Alex and Fireblade, jeopardizing the former's goodwill for little gain. She knows that she can find out more about Jadin's sanzai capabilities with cooperation, making direct inquiries and receiving direct actions - even in Jardin' current guarded approach, angles such as awareness of Fireblade's scare could yield much more information, and even before the warning tha Tempo is not aware of, he already was quite willing to cooperate on most counts. After all, Historian's warnings or no - the ways Jardin's brain works and interacts with Loroi is a vital issue for him and the one that he's likely to carefully pursue out of his own personal interest. There's little use for such sneaky approach as Tempo orchestrating the contact, if she doesn't suspect that Jardin is engaging in subconscious foul play that he still doesn't control well enough to evade the bait.
...unless it is specifically the subconscious that Tempo could aim at. See his dream-bound reactions, whether he'd be terrified be the experience or feel at home amongst the hardtroopers - but that requires the assumption of a dream-link being possible in the first place, AND Alex being careless and untrained enough to not control it, AND disregarding the risk of him being an unconscious agent - remember, all Umiak that Loroi have captured so far were raw pieces of meat, aware of next to nothing, functioning in their roles simply because that's all they knew. If Jardin's an infiltrator, then he's more likely to not know it himself rather than radiating evidences against himself while sleep, an if he's not - then there's no point in sneakily manipulating dreams.

it's her prerogative to get to the telepathic bottom of things and if the Loroi have gotten any sort of hint that Alex somehow 'senses' Fireblade then she may have set this whole thing up.

True, but nothing so far indicates that anyone is aware of the connection - even Alex himself seems to be only half-aware of it.

Don't forget that she has been having sanzai discussions in the background whenever we have seen her.

Indeed, but there's been a great deal of things for her to organize or reprimand aside from telepathic dream-invasions, and then the OPSEC concern - Tempo seems to be the only one of the whole gang who would be good at keeping secrets or pretending that nothing unusual is happening.

Hell, Alex suddenly waking up at the peak of the 'nightmare' may as well be the 'fish' biting the 'hook' for all we know. Proof for this pet theory will depend if Tempo and Fireblade are touching while Fireblade is sleeping.

The idea is interesting, but quite flawed. Still interesting and plausible. In anything, I find it's somewhat more likely that Tempo did not engineer the encounter, but might be quietly monitoring it without anyone's awareness, perhaps even unwittingly - trying to keep Fireblade's sanzai nightly signalling to a minimum and stumbling across an unexpected phenomenon or something. And the whole thing being a purely Jardin-Fireblade thing still appears more likely. Seeing if Tempo's touching Fireblade as the latter sleeps would indicate a lot in either case.

[Krin]

Not to throw a wrench in the "setup" but isn't Fireblade supposed to be "on watch"? Unless that was just a lie from Tempo.

On a side tangent, has there been any indication as to "How far" in the future this is taking place from Alex's perspective? I'm willing to guess he might be talking to other Humans, giving a debriefing of what had occurred.

[Werra]

Unless this whole 'experience' was orchestrated by Tempo; it's her prerogative to get to the telepathic bottom of things and if the Loroi have gotten any sort of hint that Alex somehow 'senses' Fireblade then she may have set this whole thing up. Don't forget that she has been having sanzai discussions in the background whenever we have seen her.

I don't think it's Tempo, yet. Because she seems to have too little to go on so far. The only times Alex has been somewhat telephatically active can be counted on one hand. When he sensed Fireblade during the interogation, when he sensed her on the shuttle and when he got the impression that Fireblade had lost an eye.We only definitely know that the Loroi noticed the eye. No Loroi has given any indication that they even have the slightest suspicion of the other two occurences. It would be quite a leap for Tempo to try to access Alex via Fireblades nightmares. A far more reasonable course of action would be to try Alex and Fireblade touching voluntarily in a calm atmosphere. Or for Tempo to try it with Alex herself.

If Alex is genuine, it would definitely be in his interest too to sound out the possibilities of telepathic contact, as that would solve a lot of the trust issues he'll be encountering going forward. So no reason for him to refuse further testing.

My money would be on this little encounter staying their little secret for a little while.

This seems like the kind of thing she has to pass on no matter what. Potential telepathic contact with the progenitor species of loroikind is too important to treat otherwise.

[boldilocks]

Unless this whole 'experience' was orchestrated by Tempo

Now this would be a bamboozle to rule them all. A neato twist, but I fail to see how it would develop further ahead. If she wanted, Tempo probably could've conducted this sort of an experiment back when Alex was in isolation (no matter their disagreements, Stillstorm would've approved of finding out more about the supposed infiltrator), and it doesn't prove anything useful for her beyond Alex having a degree of unwitting reception,

Unless his ill-treatment aboard ship was to some degree not Stillstorm's call, and the reason he's been removed from the ship was to get him out from under Stillstorms direct authority or perhaps away from Tempo's indirect authority (and thus protection from more invasive and possibly less "ethical", in the loroi sense, methods of elucidation) and her brusque demeanor was a red herring.
Ie, Tempo showing up at the last moment was the "protect the alien from loroi intelligence" plan backfiring and one of the reasons why Beryl was unhappy when Tempo did show up.

(Ie,
version 1: Tempo wants him away from Stillstorm's protection, and arranges to have him transported separately.
version 2: Stillstorm wants him away from Tempo, and arranges to have him transported separately but Tempo figures it out and subverts Stillstorm's plan.)

[Arioch]

On a side tangent, has there been any indication as to "How far" in the future this is taking place from Alex's perspective? I'm willing to guess he might be talking to other Humans, giving a debriefing of what had occurred.

Not sure I understand -- how far in the future "what" is taking place?