(urth) Gideon

[Dave Tallman]

Roy C. Lackey quoted andwrote:
> >/    3. Coming back to the part she wouldn't have access to much money,
> />/       other than selling the hopper without a legitimate registration.
> />/       Margaret was poor.
> /
> A hopper is worth a lot of money, even on the black market.
>   
Thank you for challenging my theory. I think most of the objections can 
be answered, making it stronger. I believe Cassie hopped back several 
years and established a real background as a dresser. For example, she 
gives Easter Sinclair as a reference (54) and I take that as true. If 
so, she would have trouble selling in 2070 a hopper she bought new in 
2080 without raising all kinds of questions.

> The sandwich was a *hot* pastrami. The coffee would have been hot, too. And
> why wouldn't she have known about the extra dressing and straw?
>   
The dialog on the pages between the order and the return only takes a 
minute or so to read aloud. This is a weak piece of evidence, since this 
sort of time-compression is an accepted convention in books and movies. 
The phone calls to Chase are more obviously too fast. As for the 
dressing and straw, her memories may have faded over the years.

> Reis had looked into Margaret's background (122), and he had the best
> sources money could buy.
>   
He only investigated whether she would be likely to steal the bracelet. 
She had built up enough of a reputation for honesty that this could be 
quickly settled. (This also goes to the question of the theft of Easter 
Sinclair's jewelry (140) -- this probably establishes that Margaret 
didn't do it).

> >/ Cassie's hope to change the past seems to have been defeated by time
> />/ paradoxes. If she warned Reis she wasn't believed. Chase seems to have
> />/ spotted her for a werewolf and gotten the FBI to arrest her, keeping her
> />/ from doing more at a critical time.
> /
> I think you're probably right about Chase getting her out of the way, but I
> think he did that because he thought she was a spy for Reis. (171)
>   
It's not mutually exclusive. If he spotted her as a werewolf he might 
also think she was a spy for Reis, since Reis employed werewolves.

> If Margaret had tried to tell Reis that she was really Cassie, she could
> have mentioned Rian and Klauser and King Kanoa and the coming diamond
> bracelet and many other things that should have given him pause to believe
> her, particularly since he was checking up on her past anyway.
>   
This is your strongest objection IMHO, and I don't have a complete 
answer. It is known to be difficult to change the past. "If I don't send 
mine, his will have to be accounted for in some other way and it's 
liable to get complicated" (298). It must be even harder to deliver a 
message that will falsify one's own past if acted upon. Margaret herself 
and her message would have to be "accounted for in some other way." 
Unlike Ignacio, she was fighting against destiny.

Reis might not be impressed by inside knowledge that she might have 
gained from people spying on him. She can make herself look like an old, 
washed-out version of Cassie, but he knows what werewolves can do to 
change their appearance. He might react to warnings with stubborn 
megalomania, more set on his plans than ever.