Subject: (urth) AEG: Gideon

From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:00:02 +0000

Dave Tallman wrote:
> Reis seems to have brought his troubles on himself. Chase didn't make
> him set the Navy on the Storm King. His only responsibility is that Reis
> wouldn't have loved Cassie (and wanted to attack those who endangered
> her) without Chase's help. Cassie surely cannot want revenge for that.

I agree.

I still wonder who shot Gid or, more to the point, who was behind the
shooter. Gid had a late breakfast with Cassie the morning after the cast
party. At about that time, Reis took the poison bracelet back from Margaret.
Gid was shot early in the afternoon after dropping Cassie off at her
apartment. Within 24 hours after being shot, he learned that Reis was
looking for him to give him some help. So did Reis have a change of heart,
as he did with Cassie, but too late to call off the shooter? Then why lie to
Cassie about not being responsible for the shooting and tell her that he
would find out who the shooter was? Also, Reis claimed that he preferred to
win people over to him, rather than kill them.

On a related note, apparently some time during the three-month gap between
plays, he hired Gid's services at an even higher fee than for a past
consultation. Exactly what did he hire Gid to do? Deliver Cassie to him by
buying off Gid's affection for her?

-Roy

---

From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:21:42 +0000

> win people over to him, rather than kill them.
Chase told Cassie his best ideas on who shot him on pp. 203-204.
1) He was convinced it wasn't Reis, that Reis only wanted to get him 
medical help and enlist him. Chase must have been certain of this or he 
wouldn't have been working for Reis.
2) Chase didn't think it was the FBI because: they are better shots, 
they only use violence when they have no choice, and they want him alive 
and active.

That leaves two other major players, who may be the same: ATF and the 
Squiddies. Both use violence without caution: the deaths of Norma Peiper 
and Brian Pickens show that. The ATF might be poor shots (if Scott was 
lying and Cassie was the intended victim). The Squiddie assassin "Diana 
Diamond" was definitely a poor shot (p. 252-253), since she fired 
multiple times without killing anyone. She's a good candidate for 
Chase's shooter. She admits to killing Brian Pickens, so she was in 
Kingsport. I was hoping there would be a description of a facial scar 
that could have come from a cleaver, but no such luck. Cthulhu recruits 
may heal quickly.

> buying off Gid's affection for her?
Chase admitted to being hired to deliver Cassie, but not to loss of 
affection for her. He  told her he loved her (p. 201). He just seemed to 
think Reis was winning in that department, and was surprised by Cassie's 
kiss and her offer to let him spend the night.

---

From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:09:15 +0000

> that could have come from a cleaver, but no such luck. Cthulhu recruits

But Gid saw the shooter and said it was a man. (203)

> kiss and her offer to let him spend the night.

Yes, Gid professed his love for her in his note (216), and he may even have
been sincere, in his fashion. What I meant was that, even at the surface
level, Gid subordinated his regard for her to his ambitions. No man who
really loves a woman is complicit in delivering her  for marriage to another
man. Cassie realized that in her last conversation with him (228), when he
offered excuses for not coming to pick her up in the islands.

Reis didn't hire Gid, at great cost, to chauffeur Cassie to the islands.
Anyone could have done that. Besides, Gid said that he had been hired as a
temporary "consultant". (197) Gid had a reputation for getting things done
that others couldn't do. What did Reis really want from him?

-Roy

---

From: Adam Thornton <adam at io.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:14:35 +0000

On Jan 5, 2009, at 1:09 PM, Roy C. Lackey wrote:
> No man who really loves a woman is complicit in delivering her  for  
> marriage to another man.

I take exception.

Even apart from polygynous cases, it strikes me that this could be a  
magnificent theme for a story, and one that I'm sure has been done  
(indeed, it's done in Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, after a fashion)  
many times.  For example: the low-born lover sets up the object of his  
adoration so that she may marry into money or power, after which she  
may poison her husband (or indeed, allow him to die a natural death if  
he is much older than she) so that she may then marry the low-born  
lover and drag him into a higher social or economic sphere.

Sounds like it could be a fun read.

Adam
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From: Marc Aramini <marcaramini at yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:13:35 +0000

Roy stated the person who shot gideon was a man.  A while ago I thought the male dancer in the play with the initials d d who was described as &quot;not a man&quot; could be diana diamond but I need to read it again with that in mind.

---

From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:52:58 +0000

Marc Aramini wrote:
> Roy stated the person who shot gideon was a man.  A while ago I thought the male dancer in the play with the initials d d who was described as &quot;not a man&quot; could be diana diamond but I > need to read it again with that in mind

The gender of the Takanga Ha'i assassin is highly ambiguous. The
doctor says it was once human and female, but that his opinion hardly
matters. Chase may have been mistaken in thinking his attacker was a
man.

The case for Donny Duke's connection with the assassin is good:
1) "In real life Donny Duke was small and swishy..." p. 53. He is
later described as "not a man."
2) The assassin is a "little bit of a thing." p. 256.
2) Duke plays an assassin in "Red Spot" p. 63.
3) The actor who played the King Kanoa character in "Dating the
Volcano God" played a character who hired Duke as Cassie's assassin in
"Red Spot".
3) He likes thick green drinks (63,64). The assassin has thick green spit (252).
4) The common initials equals common identity game: both are known by D.D.

On the other hand:
1) "Diana" she has never tried to "tread the boards" as an actor.
2) "Diana" says she didn't see Cassie's performance in which she
danced a hornpipe in a scanty costume (250). Cassie's partner in that
dance was Donny Duke (131). One of her fellow cult members did see
that performance, and that could well be Duke.

The assassin could be lying, of course. The connecting clues are so
good that I hate to give up the theory on her say-so alone. Duke's
face had red pimples, and the assassin's was very white, but this
could be the result of cultish transformations.

---

From: brunians at brunians.org <brunians at brunians.org>
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:19:26 +0000

Getting hit in the face with a meataxe is not a subtle thing.

.

> Marc Aramini wrote:
>> Roy stated the person who shot gideon was a man.  A while ago I thought
>> the male dancer in the play with the initials d d who was described as
>> &quot;not a man&quot; could be diana diamond but I > need to read it
>> again with that in mind
>
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> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
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---

From: John Watkins <john.watkins04 at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:04:59 +0000

Wouldn't even have to be a lie per se... "I never saw you onstage
(from the audience)".

On 1/5/09, Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com> wrote:
>> &quot;not a man&quot; could be diana diamond but I > need to read it again
>> with that in mind
>

-- 
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:13:13 +0000

> Wouldn't even have to be a lie per se... "I never saw you onstage
The other statement is not exactly a lie either. "An actress with no 
more vocal control than that? Perhaps I may tread the boards myself 
someday. I couldn't be worse" (p. 250). It doesn't really say that 
"Diana" never acted.

The phrase "tread the boards" is old-fashioned theatrical slang. Vince 
Palma uses it on p. 63, "It was a privilege and an honor to tread the 
boards in your distinguished company." Perhaps Donny the assassin picked 
up the phrase from him. It's interesting that at the party Cassie ends 
up at a table with Vince, Margaret, Norma, and Donny, all of whom I have 
suspected of having plot-related secrets:

Vince (Possessed by the Volcano God? Wearing invisible headdress?)
Norma (Ex-wife of Reis? Plotted with ATF?)
Margaret (Werewolf? Spy? Jewel thief? Seller of pictures to 
tabloids/internet?)
Donny (Cthulhu cultist? Assassin? Shooter of Chase?)

---

From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:26:32 +0000

> Getting hit in the face with a meataxe is not a subtle thing.
That's the biggest flaw I see with Donny as Chase's shooter. He has to 
appear in rehearsals for "Dating the Volcano God" very soon after the 
attack, and a big face wound would would be obvious. But he is an actor 
and would have access to advanced makeup technology. It's doubtful that 
his red pimples show in his stage roles, for example. You might have a 
pimply killer Seurat, but a pimply dancer in a musical would be strange.

The fact that Cassie doesn't recognize Donny as the assassin by face or 
voice is more easily explained. The assassin may have been transformed 
by the Squid God -- maybe this was necessary for finally healing the axe 
wound, and removing the pimples was a side-effect. The assassin was 
probably good at voices, since she critiqued Cassie's vocal control.

---

From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:39:39 +0000

> that others couldn't do. What did Reis really want from him?
One advantage of hiring Gid was that it divided his loyalties. He 
couldn't deliver Reis to the FBI while taking his money (202). But there 
must be something big going on in the background, too. Reis had a strong 
motivation for joining Cassie on the island, but he let her stay there 
alone for a long time. Since he hopped from Europe to see her early on, 
it's hard to see what could be keeping him away. He could at least spend 
some nights. I suspect it was something off-planet, maybe even in Woldercan.

When Cassie called Chase he said it would be difficult to get to her (p. 
228). Was he also off-planet? Maybe, since there's something strange 
about the phone service on the Takanga Islands (the time-shift we 
noticed for the call to Sharon). Perhaps calls are routed through 
Woldercan, and that's how Cassie was able to get the call through to him.

---

From: Adam Thornton <adam at io.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:41:01 +0000

I am suddenly very afraid.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/06/driving.obama/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

It's a big black car.  "And it will fix you a latte if you ask"[*]

Now, whose car does THAT sound like?  That's right.  The new  
President.  Whom, one must not forget, a popular[**] song just called  
"Magic."

Adam

[*] Not really, more's the pity...or WILL it?
[**] In some circles, anyway.
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From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:35:28 +0000

> Woldercan, and that's how Cassie was able to get the call through to him.

If real-time phone service between planets light-years apart were even
possible, the government would know and use it. Clearly it is not. Besides,
what could either Reis or Chase have been doing on Woldercan during the week
or so that Cassie was left to cool her heels in the islands that would have
benefited either man's immediate agenda?

-Roy