Well, hell! What rock have -I- been hiding under that made
me miss -this-?
<chuckle>
Very good work, here. One thing that bugs me a bit, though
was this: in one of the previous chapters, Lisa
officially -joined- the Knight Sabers, yes? If that's the case,
why is she so... well, secretive, I guess... about sharing
information with them? I got the idea that that was, partially,
her job.
Because she's made certain promises to *Doug* to keep *his*
secrets, just as she has for the Sabers.
If I were Sylia, I'd be pretty po'ed. I mean, she extended
some MAJOR trust, and this is how she's repaid?
Sylia's PO'ed, yes, but not hugely so. Remember, Lisa was brought
into the support crew as a historian/chronicler/librarian and an
occasional press outlet. There was never any explicit requirement
that she pass on useful information to Sylia. Sylia may have felt
that was implicit in the agreement, but not explicit -- in fact
says as much in this chapter. From her point of view, Lisa has
simply chosen her day job over the Sabers.
>From another angle, Sylia shouldn't even *ask* for that information.
It violates the "intelligence gathering" rule of the Sabers. What
Lisa finds out for her job with the 16 Times is for the Times only --
pass it on to the Sabers and it becomes investigating something on
her own instead of leaving it to the team as a whole.
There are a number of ways this could be interpreted... and none
of them leave anybody purely in the right or in the wrong. It's
a slightly more complicated situation than it seems at first
glance.
In any case, plotwise what's happening is that Lisa is wrapping
herself up in promises and secrets, and at some point a couple of
chapters from now, she will find herself in a situation where she
cannot make a move without breaking *someone's* trust. And that's
the whole point of the scene with Sylia -- it's foreshadowing.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but from my POV, Lisa's behavior
is way unacceptable. If she's a Knight Saber,
But she's no more a Knight Saber than Fargo or Doc Raven are. She
is *support staff* -- which have different priorities and duties.
her first priority seems to be herself/her career, then Doug, and
THEN the Knight Sabers.
It's a bit more tangled than that. She's covering for Doug *and* the
Sabers when it comes to her job, covering for Doug against the Sabers,
and vice versa (although Doug has little interest in digging into the
Sabers' identities etc.) If her career were first priority, above
everything else, she never would have given Nene that datadisk at the
end of "Scoop Chase".
IMO, she's behaving a little like a
spoiled brat. :)
There *is* a little of that, too. <grin>
journalist! - and that I like her character, although I still
don't agree with her behavior. :)
Well, that's one of my goals here. If you can like her and but not
like what she's doing, I've succeeded. I'm trying to do a little
of that for most everyone here and there.
I guess my question would be this: am I reading it wrong? If
so, then I'd suggest a little touch-up work... I'm willing to go
into more depth in private mail, if you'd like. If I'm not
reading it wrong, then, man, you are cruel! :) Personally, I'd
never have thought of using Lisa as yet another conflict source.
As a friend of mine said to me during a writers' workshop some 15
years ago, "get'em up a tree and throw stones at'em."
I've got this pointy stick and I'm using it to urge Lisa to climb
higher. And I have this nice pile of rocks nearby. <grin>
Either way, it's still great work. I'm really looking
forward to more of this!
Thanks. Chapter 8 is about 12% done right now. And as I just said
on my website today, if you think 7 had some weird twists, wait until
you see the screwballs I'm throwing in 8...
-- Bob
--
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Bob Schroeck
http://www.eclipse.net/~rms rms@eclipse.net
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There once was a girl named Irene
Who lived on distilled kerosene
But she started absorbin'
A new hydrocarbon
And since then has never benzene.
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