PMike wrote:I have been re-reading through the series to date and that re-read is spawning some ideas.
In TFT, April 904, First Section, Merlin is talking to Nynian following her implant surgery. He tells her:
I had Owl modify your software a bit. For the Federation, things like range and security were approached rather differently...No one ever worried about whether or not an implant's signal might detected because no one saw any reason to hide it.
For some reason, this stuck out, almost like a hint or clue.
Now, add in the Federation's knowledge of Gbaba sensors (we don't have exhaustive info on this, but we do have some). For example, Operation Ark relied on stealth (hiding from Gbaba sensors) escape the Sol blockade.
The information we do have indicates that Gbaba and TF tech were comparable, but that (initially, at least) Gbaba tech was better.
I thought back to the Weber and White collaborations where a Grand Alliance of species including humans were fighting an enemy called the Bugs. Bug technology was identical to human technology, even though the Bugs were a completely alien species. We get the impression there is one way things
can be done, so everyone essentially does it the same way, regardless of who/what they are.
Operation Ark relied on getting far enough away from the Gbaba enclobing Earth that Gbaba sensors
wouldn't pick them up before they disappeared into hyper.
Lastly, consider that the dispersal pattern of the OBS strike on the enclave appeared as if controlled by a human and not by a computer.
Merlin thought so, but figured that was Langhorne playing with his toy and enjoying God-like power. There is no evidence it could
not have been done under computer control, but for the one doing it that would have been too impersonal.
He wanted to take aim and pull the trigger.
Speculation--the trigger for the OBS is, in effect, a sensor from a gbaba vessel. Anything the Gbaba might pick up gets obliterated. If this speculation is correct, it suggests Shan-Wei and her team knew how to hide 30th century technology emissions from the Gbaba and Langhorne (or Chihiro) refused to risk it.
Is there a
difference between a human sensor and a Gbaba sensor the OBS could detect? Remember, same technology.
And the OBS
does still have working point defense, as it swats the stealthed remotes Merlin and Owl try to use to take a closer look.
But I don't see a
Gbaba sensor being the OBS trigger. If the Gbaba search the Safehold system at all, humanity is screwed. A simple scan of the planet that became Safehold will reveal the existence of life, and a closer one will show it's
intelligent life. For that matter, a scan that detects the existence of the
OBS will be deadly.
And if a Gbaba sensor does trigger the OBS, what can it do? The OBS is not an orbital defense array, and can't toss rocks at Gbaba ships. All it can do is plaster Safehold. The Gbaba will do that far batter than the OBS can.
I think we have to assume that whatever might trigger the OBS will be human activity on Safehold. Given what has already been done without rocks being dropped, the one line the IC
hasn't crossed has been use of electric power. No surprise the IC is
extremely reluctant to open that can of worms without a known good way of disabling the OBS first.
______
Dennis