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On Thu, 25 Jun 1998 Sgt. Rock wrote:
adam louis stephanides <astephan at students.uiuc.edu> wrote:
1) Pretending to be an abo impersonating an Earthman would hardly free him from suspicion of being a spy. There's no reason why such an impersonator couldn't also be carrying out a mission from the Annese government. In fact, given the Ste.Croix regime's paranoia, Marsch's being an Annese visiting Ste. Croix in the guise of an Earthman would probably be regarded as tantamount in itself to being a spy.
Of course. That's why Marsch only activates the second cover when he has good reason to think his first one is blown (when the authorities arrest him and accuse him of being an Annese spy). Marsch is using the time-honored tactic of "confessing" to a lesser crime (murder) to draw suspicion from his true activities (spying).
But my point was that "confessing" to be an Annese impersonating Marsch wouldn't draw suspicion from his spying, but to it.
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Furthermore, isn't it odd that the St. Croix authorities not only accuse Marsch of being a spy, but also of murdering Maitre? After all, they've already convicted Number 5 for the same crime. Is there perhaps some reason for thinking that the two were acting in collusion?
My reading was that he was first arrested on the grounds of murdering Maitre; later Number Five was arrested for the murder, but by that time they'd already decided "Marsch" was a spy. The cover letter to "Marsch's" papers (p. 267 in the Ace edition) seems to confirm this.
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From: "Alice Turner" <al at interport.net>
Subject: fan fiction
When I saw this subject line in the digest intro, I thought you were referring to genuine Wolfe-based fan fiction, and I confess to being disappointed that you weren't. Does anyone know if such a thing exists?
--Adam