Plot twists that WON'T happen

cthia wrote:Mesa genetically modifies Gremlins to counteract treecats.

timmopussycat wrote:

cthia wrote:Mesa genetically modifies Gremlins to counteract treecats.

With the kind of "intelligence" the Alignment has been showing to date, they will probably pick Pintos instead of Gremlins.

roseandheather wrote:I sincerely hope your methods of persuasion are effective. There are exactly four pairings I am genuinely invested in wanting to see happen, and this one is number two. Those two were made for each other.
It raises a question, though - if Shannon and Sonja got married, does that mean there'd be two Baroness Admiral Low Delhi's? Could get confusing...

Now there's a question. One, would a non-Manticoran citizen be allowed to take even a courtesy title? Two, would that non-Manticoran citizen become a Manticoran citizen upon marriage, particularly given a piece of information RFC let slip recently? And three, would "Dame" be enough to distinguish them, or would the aforementioned non-Manticoran citizen have by then a) become a citizen and b) been knighted?

And even assuming all of the above is true, would our Sonja be able to continue to escape being called Admiral Low Delhi - and if she did, would that mean that the woman commonly addressed as "Admiral Low Delhi" would not, in fact, be the woman who actually inherited the title?

...okay, now RFC has to do it just so he can answer all these questions!!

roseandheather wrote:

dreamrider wrote:Cooperating Task Forces under the command of Allen Higgins, Augustus Khumalo, and Genvieve Chin invest and take down Darius.

dreamrider

(PS - Sorry, rnh, I couldn't resist...and who knows, it might happen.)

That sound you just heard was me dropping to my knees and praying to every deity I can think of and a few I can't to make this glory happen.

cthia wrote:OMG! What if Shannon and maybe even Sonja is actually descended from another lost Alpha line like Honor. And their quirky antisocial behavior is simply another side effect of the same genetic soup.

cthia wrote:OMG! What if Shannon and maybe even Sonja is actually descended from another lost Alpha line like Honor. And their quirky antisocial behavior is simply another side effect of the same genetic soup.

Shannon_Foraker wrote:

cthia wrote:OMG! What if Shannon and maybe even Sonja is actually descended from another lost Alpha line like Honor. And their quirky antisocial behavior is simply another side effect of the same genetic soup.

This makes complete sense, as the Merdayal[sic] mods could have been added later to Honor, but not the tech nerd duo.

Aren't the traits of an Alpha Line
- Brains
- Somewhat antisocial
Any others?

Wiki wrote:The Bardasano genotype was one of Mesa's prime genetic lines, guided by the Mesan Alignment.

It was notable for over six generations for intelligence and ruthless determination, although there were a few unfortunate and unintended traits, such as a tendency towards sexual disorders and mildly sociopathic behavior. At one point the Mesan Alignment was tempted to cull the line's last several iterations, and restart development from a much earlier genotype. The beneficial traits, however, proved to be so strong and useful that a remedial program was implemented instead, merely culling the previous two generations.

Thanks to the performance of Isabel Bardasano, the line had temporary Alpha status within the Mesan Alignment. Albrecht Detweiler expected the status to become permanent if the negative traits were dealt with within the next few generations.

cthia wrote:OMG! What if Shannon and maybe even Sonja is actually descended from another lost Alpha line like Honor. And their quirky antisocial behavior is simply another side effect of the same genetic soup.

Shannon_Foraker wrote:This makes complete sense, as the Merdayal[sic] mods could have been added later to Honor, but not the tech nerd duo.

Aren't the traits of an Alpha Line
- Brains
- Somewhat antisocial
Any others?

cthia wrote:I readily recall the Bardasano genotype with all of its problems which led to culling the previous two generations. The previous generations could have included Sonja and Shannon if they were part of the same genetic soup.

That is all any man will ever need. A crazy woman who was made with screws loose sporting a variety of just as crazy tattoos.

Make that a card-carrying sociopath with plenty of screws loose, a medley of weird tattoos and a sexual disorder.

I wonder what the sexual disorder is all about. Do they kill their lovers like the black widow Spider?

Wiki wrote:The Bardasano genotype was one of Mesa's prime genetic lines, guided by the Mesan Alignment.

It was notable for over six generations for intelligence and ruthless determination, although there were a few unfortunate and unintended traits, such as a tendency towards sexual disorders and mildly sociopathic behavior. At one point the Mesan Alignment was tempted to cull the line's last several iterations, and restart development from a much earlier genotype. The beneficial traits, however, proved to be so strong and useful that a remedial program was implemented instead, merely culling the previous two generations.

Thanks to the performance of Isabel Bardasano, the line had temporary Alpha status within the Mesan Alignment. Albrecht Detweiler expected the status to become permanent if the negative traits were dealt with within the next few generations.

In the meantime, however, she was quite possibly the best covert ops specialist the Alignment had produced in at least the last T-century. It amused Detweiler that those outside the Alignment's innermost circle often cherished doubts about Bardasano's sanity, particularly when it came to her attitude towards him. The fact that it was well known within Mesa's star lines that the Bardasanos had almost been culled meant that her apparent insouciance with him only added to her reputation for . . . oddness, and provided a valuable extra level of protection when he or one of his sons called upon her services. As he gazed at her across the desk, he toyed once more with the notion of telling her that a cross between the Bardasano and Detweiler genotypes was even then being evaluated, but decided against it. For now, at least.

cthia wrote:OMG! What if Shannon and maybe even Sonja is actually descended from another lost Alpha line like Honor. And their quirky antisocial behavior is simply another side effect of the same genetic soup.

Shannon_Foraker wrote:This makes complete sense, as the Merdayal[sic] mods could have been added later to Honor, but not the tech nerd duo.

Aren't the traits of an Alpha Line
- Brains
- Somewhat antisocial
Any others?

cthia wrote:I readily recall the Bardasano genotype with all of its problems which led to culling the previous two generations. The previous generations could have included Sonja and Shannon if they were part of the same genetic soup.

That is all any man will ever need. A crazy woman who was made with screws loose sporting a variety of just as crazy tattoos.

Make that a card-carrying sociopath with plenty of screws loose, a medley of weird tattoos and a sexual disorder.

I wonder what the sexual disorder is all about. Do they kill their lovers like the black widow Spider?

Wiki wrote:The Bardasano genotype was one of Mesa's prime genetic lines, guided by the Mesan Alignment.

It was notable for over six generations for intelligence and ruthless determination, although there were a few unfortunate and unintended traits, such as a tendency towards sexual disorders and mildly sociopathic behavior. At one point the Mesan Alignment was tempted to cull the line's last several iterations, and restart development from a much earlier genotype. The beneficial traits, however, proved to be so strong and useful that a remedial program was implemented instead, merely culling the previous two generations.

Thanks to the performance of Isabel Bardasano, the line had temporary Alpha status within the Mesan Alignment. Albrecht Detweiler expected the status to become permanent if the negative traits were dealt with within the next few generations.

tlb wrote:If Shannon or Sonja were part of lost lines, then they could not be subject to a possible culling of any recent generation.

Did you also remember that the Board was considering crossing the Bardasano line with the Detweiler line? From chapter 20 of Storm from the Shadows (slightly after the text you mentioned):

In the meantime, however, she was quite possibly the best covert ops specialist the Alignment had produced in at least the last T-century. It amused Detweiler that those outside the Alignment's innermost circle often cherished doubts about Bardasano's sanity, particularly when it came to her attitude towards him. The fact that it was well known within Mesa's star lines that the Bardasanos had almost been culled meant that her apparent insouciance with him only added to her reputation for . . . oddness, and provided a valuable extra level of protection when he or one of his sons called upon her services. As he gazed at her across the desk, he toyed once more with the notion of telling her that a cross between the Bardasano and Detweiler genotypes was even then being evaluated, but decided against it. For now, at least.