(urth) aeg: gideon

[Dave Tallman]

Marc Aramini wrote:
> Roy stated the person who shot gideon was a man.  A while ago I thought the male dancer in the play with the initials d d who was described as "not a man" could be diana diamond but I > need to read it again with that in mind

The gender of the Takanga Ha'i assassin is highly ambiguous. The
doctor says it was once human and female, but that his opinion hardly
matters. Chase may have been mistaken in thinking his attacker was a
man.

The case for Donny Duke's connection with the assassin is good:
1) "In real life Donny Duke was small and swishy..." p. 53. He is
later described as "not a man."
2) The assassin is a "little bit of a thing." p. 256.
2) Duke plays an assassin in "Red Spot" p. 63.
3) The actor who played the King Kanoa character in "Dating the
Volcano God" played a character who hired Duke as Cassie's assassin in
"Red Spot".
3) He likes thick green drinks (63,64). The assassin has thick green spit (252).
4) The common initials equals common identity game: both are known by D.D.

On the other hand:
1) "Diana" she has never tried to "tread the boards" as an actor.
2) "Diana" says she didn't see Cassie's performance in which she
danced a hornpipe in a scanty costume (250). Cassie's partner in that
dance was Donny Duke (131). One of her fellow cult members did see
that performance, and that could well be Duke.

The assassin could be lying, of course. The connecting clues are so
good that I hate to give up the theory on her say-so alone. Duke's
face had red pimples, and the assassin's was very white, but this
could be the result of cultish transformations.