Gideon

Roy C. Lackey · 12 Jan 2009, 03:22 · from 2009-January.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:22:38 -0600
Subject: (urth) Gideon
References: <00c801c971cd$0d0c15e0$09cf4a0c@rclackey>
	<4969F7B9.7030106 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <006e01c97465$09a99f40$aecf4a0c@rclackey>

Dave Tallman wrote:

> Gideon's character, and Cassie's understanding of it, seem to be
> critical in understanding the end of the book. What is she hoping to
> achieve by visiting Woldercan? How much help does she expect from
> Gideon? How much will he give her?
[snip]
> I would say that her former trust in Gideon is gone. She will use him,
> if he lets her, to get back her mojo.

I agree with that much.

> Whether Chase helps or not, she
> will try to regain her power and the associated reality-warping
> abilities (documented in the "Cassie's mobile home" thread) to bring
> Reis back. She will be Venus to his Adonis if she can.

I'm not sold on the "reality warping" bit. Anyway, bringing on Cassie's
glamour had been but a night's work. Yet she told Klauser that she hoped to
be on Woldercan for a long time. (299) Why hope? What was her hope
contingent upon? I think she wanted Gid to restore her mojo, but the length
of her stay would depended on whether or not Gid wanted her, with or without
the mojo.

Would Reis have wanted her without the mojo? I doubt it, given his track
record with women. But Gid would, as he acknowledged to himself when no one
was around to hear. (81) Cassie was a female with issues--always a bad
combination. <g> She wanted to be someone in her own right, "to matter" as
she put it. (211) Gid said that she already was someone. For Reis, she was
just an ego prop. That is what was behind his remark about her not being
executive material, that it was not what she was "cut out for." (269) For
Reis, she was a heavenly body, not a person. She may have been the Moon to
him, but he would always outshine her as the Sun.

However reluctantly, Gid let her drive his car. In Cassie's mind, that was a
test, a test that Reis almost certainly would have failed. Her last words to
Gid were, "I love you, Gid. Thanks for letting me drive your car." (228)

As for the book's ending, and clone issues aside, it almost seems as if Bill
and Wally are two different people in Cassie's mind. The former is the
sinister, greedy billionaire, the latter the patron and philanthropist she
came to love. Perhaps the photo of a young Reis suggests to her that, by the
time Gid's ambassadorship is over, young Rian will have grown up to look
much like the young Bill in the photo. He will be rich, and her restored
mojo will work on him. And Klauser's question about nepotism and the Chase
ambassadors is a pointer to Rian's future. But this is speculation.

What else could she do on Woldercan? She could learn the arts that humans
were capable of learning, those that Reis had picked up. But both she and
Gid were wealthy, and I doubt either would stoop to making bad gold for
gain.

-Roy

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